Europe · 03 September, 2026 · 3 min read
Serbia Returns Ratko Mladic’s Body to Belgrade With Military Honours
Mladić's body arrived in Belgrade on a government plane from The Hague. Casket was draped in the Serbian flag and transported with military honors.
33 outlets, one story, no spin found.
10 of 11 outlets skipped it: mechanism cited Rule 72 for returning remains to next of kin.
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Return to Belgrade
Ratko Mladic’s body returned to Belgrade on Thursday after he died last week while serving a life sentence for war crimes, with the casket draped in the national flag carried on a Serbian government plane from The Hague, Netherlands.
“The casket, draped in the national flag, was carried on Thursday on board a Serbian government plane”
The UN court confirmed in a written statement that his remains had been handed over to his next of kin at Rotterdam The Hague Airport on Thursday afternoon, and the coffin was carried from the plane in Belgrade by six soldiers accompanied by Mladic’s son Darko and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic.
Serbian officials and pro-government media said a military commemoration would be held on Saturday and a funeral on Monday, while pro-government media also broadcast images of dozens of people gathered on footbridges over the motorway displaying banners honouring Mladic and lighting flares as the convoy passed.
In Belgrade, the body was transported under police escort reportedly to a Belgrade military hospital, where a post-mortem examination was described as being carried out at the request of Mladic’s family and the justice minister.
EU condemnation and Serbian response
European leaders and EU officials condemned the planned honours, with EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos saying, "the glorification of war criminals is contrary to fundamental European values and has no place in the European Union or in countries that aspire to become members".
Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic said the state would provide "every kind of logistical, transport, and other support" around the transfer of Mladic’s body and his funeral, while also predicting that "tens of thousands" of people could attend.
Al Jazeera reported that many Serbs consider Mladic a hero despite his conviction by the UN tribunal, and it described thousands of Serbs holding vigils and marches in his honour drawing condemnation in a region still ethnically divided more than three decades after the wars.
In BBC coverage, a Serbian government minister had initially said Mladić would be given a state funeral, but those plans were changed after objections from some European leaders, and the EU denounced Mladić’s "glorification" in a statement.
Funeral plans and what’s at stake
As the funeral approached, pro-government media and officials described a public service at a church scheduled for Monday, while the funeral location was described as not officially confirmed in some accounts.
“European Commissioner for Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi canceled a visit to Serbia scheduled for September 9”
Al Jazeera’s reporting on Monday’s ceremony said the funeral was held in Belgrade amid official and popular celebratory displays while the European Union condemned the "glorification" of a war criminal, and it quoted Darko Mladic saying, "They subjected our heroes to sham trials to turn those who defend us into criminals and traitors into heroes."
The same Al Jazeera account said the crowd responded with chants of "Hero! Hero!" as Mladic was buried beside his daughter Ana, and it reported that European Commissioner for Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi canceled a visit to Serbia scheduled for September 9, deeming that "glorifying his death" contradicts the values on which the European Union is built.
BBC coverage added that a woman in Sarajevo, Zdravka Gvozdjar, told Reuters it was "really horrible" that the funeral was taking place in Belgrade and said Mladić "deserved to be erased from memory for good, not to be... promoted as a hero," underscoring the continuing dispute over how Mladic should be remembered.