Serbian Officials Plan State Funeral for Convicted War Criminal Ratko Mladic
Following Ratko Mladic's death in a Hague prison hospital, Serbian and Republika Srpska leaders announced a state funeral, while Bosnian officials condemned the move as glorifying a convicted genocide perpetrator.
Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, died on August 27, 2026 in a prison hospital in The Hague. Serbian authorities announced plans for a state funeral with full military honors, and officials in the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska called for public vigils to pray for his soul. Milorad Dodik, a leading figure in Republika Srpska, described the death as a "murder" and suggested it was the result of an organized plot. In Belgrade, Justice Minister Mladen Vuković confirmed the funeral arrangements, while President Aleksandar Vučić criticized the Hague tribunal for denying Mladic a final period outside his cell. Former Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin linked Mladic to historic Serbian figures, saying, "From Gavrilo Princip to Ratko Mladic, the best Serbs are killed tied up."
The reaction in Bosnia's Federation entity was sharply different. Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković said Serbia was voluntarily honoring Mladic despite his conviction, and victims' groups denounced the planned ceremony as an insult to survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The European Commission warned that glorifying convicted war criminals contradicts core European values, and the European Movement in Serbia called the state funeral a "serious moral, legal and political attack" on Serbia.
Analysts argue that the ongoing division stems from the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which created a complex constitutional structure dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities and a special district. While the agreement halted active fighting, critics say it lacked mechanisms for addressing wartime atrocities, allowing nationalist narratives to persist. Bosnia has legislation criminalizing genocide denial and the glorification of convicted perpetrators, but enforcement is uneven, and Serbia has no comparable law. International bodies, including the Office of the High Representative, have maintained the post-war status quo without dismantling the underlying political divisions.