Ratko Mladic’s body returns to Serbia on government plane as EU warns against glorification

The plane landed in Belgrade carrying Mladic’s coffin, draped in a Serbian flag, along with his son, granddaughter and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, Reuters reported.

A Serbian government minister initially said Mladic would receive a state funeral, but the government has not confirmed this following criticism from European leaders.

Serbian media reported that a commemoration ceremony will be held at an army hall in central Belgrade on Sept. 5. The funeral is scheduled for Sept. 7 at a church in a Belgrade suburb, after which Mladic is expected to be buried beside his daughter.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he expects tens of thousands of people to attend.

Mladic remains revered by many Serbs despite his convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

“The glorification of Ratko Mladić as a war criminal is against fundamental European values and has no place in the European Union or in the countries that aspire to become members of the Union,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said.

“I hope that the government in Belgrade is aware of what is at stake.”

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was more explicit, saying that if Serbia organized a state funeral for Mladic, it would “close the door to the European Union.”

Mladic died on Aug. 27 at age 84 while serving a life sentence at a U.N. detention facility in The Hague.

The former Bosnian Serb military commander was convicted of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which around 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces seized the U.N.-designated safe area.

He was also convicted over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, during which around 10,000 people were killed.

Mladic spent nearly 16 years evading justice before his arrest in Serbia in 2011.