Europe · 08 September, 2026 · 3 min read
Serbia Flies Ratko Mladic From The Hague for Funeral With Military Honors in Belgrade
Body flown from The Hague to Belgrade for funeral with military honors Thousands attended funeral in Belgrade despite EU condemnation warnings
25 outlets, one story, no spin found.
8 of 9 outlets skipped it: vučić said he has an all-day Uzbekistan meeting on Monday.
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Mladic Returns to Serbia
The body of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic was flown to Serbia from The Hague, Netherlands, on a government plane on Thursday, and Serbian army soldiers carried the coffin with Mladic’s body wrapped in the national flag from the plane to a van in a ceremony broadcast live on pro-government Informer television.
“was flown to Serbia from The Hague, Netherlands, on a government plane on Thursday”
AP reported that Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic was on the plane along with Mladic’s son Darko Mladic and Mladic’s former military associates, and that the body was transferred to the military hospital in Belgrade for an autopsy.
DW said the coffin was carried by members of the Serbian Armed Forces from the plane to the Military Medical Academy for autopsy, while several groups of citizens gathered along the route from the airport to the hospital.
DW also reported that Belgrade media said Mladic would be buried in Belgrade on Monday, and that security agencies estimate that tens of thousands could attend.
AP said Mladic was sentenced in 2017 to life imprisonment for orchestrating the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, the yearslong siege of Sarajevo, and other war crimes including setting up concentration camps for detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers.
EU Condemns Glorification
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos canceled an upcoming visit to Serbia over what she described as the “glorification” of Ratko Mladic, and Euronews said the handling of the funeral would be “a very important test” for Serbia’s EU path.
Euronews quoted Kos saying, “Bringing the remains of Ratko Mladić to Belgrade will be a very important test,” and NBC News reported that Kos wrote on X that “the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built.”
NBC News said regional N1 television quoted Aleksandar Vucic as saying Kos’s explanation was “very short but stupid,” and that Vucic said Kos did not specify “who glorified anything” but that “I guess we should ban people from showing up, ban the funeral.”
DW described how pro-government tabloids provided minute-by-minute coverage, referring to Mladic as a “Serbian general” and claiming that he had been “killed in The Hague,” while banners along the route read “Thank you, General” and “Heroes never die.”
DW also quoted Humanitarian Law Center executive director Jasmina Lazovic saying, “There is no small town in Serbia without at least one mural glorifying Ratko Mladic,” and she linked the narratives to a state leadership portrayal of Serbia’s wars as defensive.
Funeral Stakes and Fallout
As Serbia prepared for the funeral, CNN said the body of Ratko Mladic lay in state on Monday at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Belgrade, with thousands of mourners arriving early and pro-government media reporting that Mladić would receive full military honors.
“the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built”
CNN reported that Marta Kos canceled an upcoming visit to Serbia in protest, arguing that “the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built,” and it said Serbia defied EU warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II.
AP said the legacy court in The Hague, formally known as the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, condemned “any actions that glorify those convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by international courts,” and it described the court standing “in solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families who suffered the crimes for which Mr. Mladic was found guilty.”
AP also reported that Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry but remains defiant over its war role, and it quoted Vucic predicting that “tens of thousands” could attend and saying it would be “a demanding job for our (security) services.”
DW added that Justice Minister Nenad Vujic had previously announced that the funeral would be held with the highest state honors, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the decision would be left to the family, as the dispute played out against the backdrop of EU warnings.