Death of Ratko Mladić Sparks Divided Reactions in Serbia
3 sources across 3 countries · Germany · Qatar · Spain · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- Al Jazeera
- El Pais
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić has died while serving a life sentence. Mladić was convicted by the UN Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of genocide in Srebrenica, the siege of Sarajevo, and the taking of UN peacekeepers as hostages. Following his death, hundreds of Bosnian Serbs gathered to pay tribute to him, and some political figures in the region hailed him as a hero.
Reactions to the death have been sharply divided. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić criticized the UN Tribunal for not allowing Mladić to die in Serbia, calling the situation unprecedented and unjustified. In the Republika Srpska, politician Milorad Dodik attended a church memorial and lit candles for Mladić, while opposition leader Jelena Trivić stated that Mladić placed the fate of the Serbian people above all else. Some government linked media in Serbia claimed Mladić was murdered by the UN Tribunal, which they described as a terror organization. The Russian embassy in Belgrade also expressed condolences to Mladić's family.
Conversely, other voices have condemned the glorification of the former general. Former Serbian opposition leader Vuk Drašković described the praise for Mladić as a shameful and unforgivable glorification of terrible crimes. Outlets with a center left lean frame the event as a legacy of hate and a continuation of the glorification of a war criminal. In contrast, a center right outlet highlights the tension between nationalist reactions and the voices of dissent, while questioning how much the Balkan state has changed since the era of Slobodan Milošević.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- These outlets frame the event as the persistence of a legacy of hate and the problematic glorification of a genocidist.
- Centre-right
- This outlet frames the event as a reflection of ongoing nationalism in Serbia and a conflict between state rhetoric and dissenting voices.
Sources
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