The body of deceased genocide convict Ratko Mladic was flown on a Serbian government plane to Belgrade, where it was met by the Minister of Justice and an honour guard.
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The body of Ratko Mladic arrived at the Belgrade airport on Serbian government plane on Thursday after his death last week while serving a life sentence for genocide and other wartime crimes.
The plane carrying the body of the deceased Bosnian Serb military chief was met at Belgrade airport by Serbian Minister of Justice Nenad Vujic, Mladic’s son Darko Mladic, a motorcade of police vehicles, and an army honour guard. The coffin was covered by the Serbian flag.
The body was then transported in a motorcade
The body was then transported in a motorcade led by two police motorcycle outriders from the airport to the Military Medical Academy, a hospital in Belgrade, where an autopsy will be conducted.
“At the request of the family of General Ratko Mladic and based on a letter from the Minister of Justice, the Military Medical Academy will perform an autopsy on the mortal remains of General Ratko Mladic,” said Ivan Lekovic, deputy head of the Military Medical Academy.
“All findings, both from the autopsy and from all analyses and tests, will be delivered to the family and relevant institutions as soon as possible,” he said.
The motorcade’s progress to the capital was broadcast
The motorcade’s progress to the capital was broadcast live by pro-government Informer TV. Along the highway, Informer’s footage showed groups of supporters gathered on overpasses with banners glorifying Mladic and messages such as “Thank you, General” and “Welcome home, General”.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier on Thursday that the state will be ready to provide “every kind of logistical, transport, and other support, as well as to help maintain public order, peace, and security” around the transfer of Mladic’s body and his funeral.
“We will be there to provide every kind of logistical, transport, and support to maintain public order, peace, and security,” Vucic said.
Vucic added that estimates by the Security Information
Vucic added that “estimates by the Security Information Agency, the Military Intelligence Agency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs” suggest there might be “tens of thousands of attendees” at the funeral.
The location of the funeral has yet to be announced.
Mladic died in the UN Detention Unit in the Netherlands on August 27, aged 84, while he was serving a life sentence for committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, IRMCT, the successor to the Hague Tribunal, said on Thursday that the handover of Mladic’s remains took place at Rotterdam The Hague Airport.
The Mechanism has acted with full respect
“The Mechanism has acted with full respect for international human rights law and norms and coordinated closely with Mr. Mladic’s family members and diplomatic representatives, where appropriate, to facilitate all administrative, logistical, and legal requirements necessary for the respectful and dignified transfer of the remains for repatriation,” the IRMCT said in a statement.
Serbia is an EU candidate state, and the bloc’s enlargement commissioner Marta Kos warned on Monday that 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”, AFP reported.
Source: balkaninsight.com
