Serbian officials attend Belgrade memorial for convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić

Memorial service in Belgrade

Approximately 300 people gathered on Saturday at the Army House in Belgrade for a memorial ceremony honouring Ratko Mladić. The event was organised by an association of active and retired Serbian generals. Attendees included Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić, Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan, Republika Srpska Interior Minister Željko Budimir, and Labour and Veterans Minister Radan Ostojić. Family members, including his son Darko Mladić, attended alongside dozens of former military personnel and Russian historian Elena Guskova. Dozens of supporters gathered outside the building because the interior reached capacity, with attendees displaying shirts bearing Mladić's image in uniform and the slogan "Serbian Hero". The commemoration received limited coverage from pro-government media, while the ruling Serbian Progressive Party met in Niš to nominate President Aleksandar Vučić as its prime ministerial candidate.

Transfer of remains and funeral arrangements

Mladić died on 27 August 2026 at the age of 84 in a hospital in The Hague, having suffered from long-term health complications and several strokes. On 3 September 2026, a government aircraft transported his coffin, draped in the national flag, from The Hague to Belgrade with Vujić, Darko Mladić, and two former military aides on board. Soldiers transferred the coffin to an unmarked van escorted by police along the main highway to the Military Medical Academy for an autopsy requested by his family. His burial is scheduled for Monday, 7 September 2026, at Belgrade's Košutnjak cemetery, following a church service and procession. He will be buried in a family grave beside his daughter Ana, who died by suicide in the 1990s. Despite initial statements from Vujić that Mladić would receive full state and military honours, the Serbian government confirmed that President Vučić, the prime minister, and the parliament speaker would not attend, excluding artillery salutes, military guards, and burial in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens.

Diplomatic response from Brussels

The memorial event and government participation drew criticism from the European Union. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos cancelled a planned official visit to Serbia for the following week on Friday in response to the public honours.

Glorification of war criminals is contrary to core European values and has no place in the European Union or in countries aspiring to become members.

Serbia obtained official candidate status for EU accession in March 2012, three years after submitting its application in 2009. Accession negotiations have since faced delays over rule-of-law benchmarks and ongoing disputes with Kosovo.

Wartime command and legal convictions

Mladić commanded Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war, a conflict that caused approximately 100,000 deaths and displaced 2.2 million people. In July 1995, troops under his direction entered the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica and murdered approximately 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys, burying victims in mass graves before moving remains to conceal the killings. Mladić lived as a fugitive for nearly 16 years until Serbian authorities arrested him in 2011 and transferred him to The Hague. In 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage following NATO airstrikes. The tribunal upheld his life sentence on final appeal in 2021.