Thousands Gather in Belgrade for Funeral of Convicted War Criminal Ratko Mladić
18 sources across 10 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- The Guardian
- BBC News
- Financial Times
- Reuters
- CNN
- Associated Press
- Bloomberg
- UOL
- Folha de S.Paulo
- Der Spiegel
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- ANSA
- Corriere della Sera
- South China Morning Post
- Telex
- NRC
- Aftenposten
- Al Jazeera
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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Thousands of people gathered in Belgrade on Monday for the funeral of Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb commander who died at age 84 while serving a life sentence in The Hague. Mladić was convicted by a UN tribunal of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, where approximately 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed, as well as the siege of Sarajevo. The funeral service was led by Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the St. Luke church, and Mladić was later buried in the Topcider cemetery next to his daughter, Ana.
The event was marked by military honors. Mladić's coffin was flown to Serbia on a government plane, draped in national flags, and carried by soldiers. During the ceremony, his military cap and saber were placed on the coffin. Attendees included several Serbian government ministers, including the Ministers of Justice, Culture, and Defence, as well as Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and the Russian ambassador to Serbia. President Aleksandar Vučić did not attend the funeral, though he described the event as an emotional outpouring and rejected international criticism.
The European Union strongly condemned the event, stating that the glorification of war criminals and genocide denial contradict fundamental European values. In protest, EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos cancelled a planned visit to Serbia. Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, but the process has stalled due to democratic backsliding and tensions over the country's wartime role.
Outlets with a center or center-right lean focused on the scale of the turnout and the tension between Serbian national sentiment and EU warnings. Outlets with a center-left lean emphasized the brutality of Mladić's crimes, often referring to him as the Butcher of Bosnia, and highlighted the pain of the victims and the incompatibility of the honors with European values.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Emphasized the atrocities committed by Mladić and framed the funeral as a provocative act of genocide glorification.
- Centre
- Focused on the factual sequence of the funeral and the diplomatic friction between Serbia and the EU.
- Centre-right
- Highlighted the nationalist perspective of Mladić as a hero and the logistical scale of the public gathering.
Sources
- Centre ANSA: Crowd in Belgrado for the funeral of Ratko Mladic
- Centre-right Aftenposten: Genocide convict gets state funeral. Thousands flock.
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: Serbia holds funeral for convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic
- Centre Associated Press: War criminal Mladic is buried as a hero in Serbia despite EU warnings - AP News
- Centre BBC News: Thousands turn out in Serbia for funeral of 'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladić
- Centre Bloomberg: Thousands Attend Funeral of War Criminal Mladic in Serbia
- Centre-left CNN: War criminal Ratko Mladić to receive full military honors in funeral as crowds gather
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: Belgrade, thousands of Serbs pay tribute to the body of Mladic
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: In Belgrade it is the day of the funeral of Mladic, the genocidaire of Srebrenica: the report of the correspondent
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: The funerals of Mladic in Belgrade: thousands of people and giant screens for the rockstar farewell to the Srebrenica executioner
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: The funeral of Ratko Mladic in video live
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Ratko Mladić: EU condemns "glorification of war criminal" at burial in Belgrad
- Centre Financial Times: Top Serbian officials attend funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladić
- Centre Folha de S.Paulo: Funeral of Ratko Mladic, the 'Butcher of Bosnia', gathers crowd and provokes indignation from EU
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Burial of Mladić: Long queue at the coffin of the war criminal
- Centre NRC: Thousands of Serbs at funeral of Ratko Mladic, EU condemns ‘glorification’ of war criminal
- Centre Reuters: Thousands gather in Belgrade for funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic - Reuters
- Centre-right South China Morning Post: War criminal Mladic buried with military honours in Serbia despite EU warnings
- Centre Telex: Thousands gathered at the funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladić in Belgrade
- Centre-left The Guardian: Ratko Mladić, the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, given hero’s funeral in Serbia
- Centre-left UOL: Funeral of general convicted of genocide gathers thousands in Belgrade
- Centre-left UOL: Funeral of Ratko Mladic, the 'butcher of Bosnia', gathers crowd and provokes indignation from the EU
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.