Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic told Republika Srpska’s Alternativna Television on Thursday evening that Bosnian Serb genocide and war crimes convict Ratko Mladic will be buried with state honours in Serbia.
“General Mladic is a general, and there are protocols that apply. His role is known, as is what is due to General Mladic, and that will certainly be respected,” Vujic said.
He added the location of Mladic’s burial will depend on the family’s decision.
Mladic was a general of the Yugoslav People’s
Mladic was a general of the Yugoslav People’s Army at the start of the Yugoslav wars, and then became a general with the Bosnian Serb Army and the commander of its Main Staff, waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing that ultimately led to his indictment by the Hague Tribunal.
When he died on Thursday in detention in The Hague, aged 84, Mladic was serving a life sentence for committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Vujic’s statement is one of the only signs of the Serbian government’s position on Mladic so far. After the news on his death on Thursday, Serbian officials remained silent, although pro-government media mourned his death and accused the Hague Tribunal of neglecting his health.
Vujic told Republika Srpska’s public broadcaster RTRS
Vujic told Republika Srpska’s public broadcaster RTRS that he spoke with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday and that they agreed Serbia would provide any assistance needed to organise the transportation of Mladic’s body and arrange to fly it to Belgradeon a “special aircraft”.
“I will probably also travel with the family so that we can complete the formalities related to the transfer of the body,” Vujic said.
“This is sad news for all of us, for the entire Serbian people,” he told RTRS, stressing that Serbian authorities had done everything in their power to urge the early release of Mladic due to his illness.
Source: balkaninsight.com
