Serbia welcomes return of war criminal Mladic’s body with military honours

What the report says

Serbia has received the body of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic in Belgrade with military honours, according to Al Jazeera. Mladic died last week while serving a life sentence for war crimes handed down by a UN tribunal for atrocities committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war.

Al Jazeera reported that the casket was flown from The Hague on a Serbian government plane and then carried in Belgrade by six soldiers. Mladic’s son, Darko, and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic were present. Vujic said the family would announce funeral plans in the coming days, while pro-government media said a military commemoration could be held on Saturday and the burial on Monday.

Mladic was convicted in 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including crimes tied to the Srebrenica massacre. The war in Bosnia killed more than 100,000 people and displaced over 1 million before ending in a 1995 peace agreement. The article said many Serbs continue to regard Mladic as a hero, even as the UN court and EU officials have condemned attempts to glorify convicted war criminals.

The development matters because it highlights how disputes over wartime responsibility remain deeply divisive in Serbia and across the former Yugoslavia, where memories of the conflict still shape politics, public commemoration and relations with European institutions.