“It is up to the Serbian authorities to decide what role they will play in the funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladic, but glorifying war criminals is contrary to the most basic European values“.
This is what the European Commission expressed in an answer given to Radio Free Europe regarding Belgrade’s decision to accompany the former leader of the Bosnian Serb army, Ratko Mladic, with all military and state honors.
“The European Commission believes that any elevation of war criminals is contrary to the most fundamental European values and has no place in the EU or EU candidate countries.“, emphasized the European Commission.
Mladic died on Thursday at the age of 84 in a prison in The Hague where he was serving a life sentence that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to in 2017 after finding him guilty of the bloody genocide of the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Among the crimes for which the Srebrenica massacre was condemned, where more than 8,000 Muslim boys and men were killed in 1995. The Serbian Minister of Justice, Nenad Vujic, said a day ago that Mladic will be escorted to his final residence with all state and military honors, according to him, as he deserved, after his body was sent to Serbia.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic himself accused the Hague court of unprecedented behavior, since the court had several times rejected the requests of the Serbian government and Mladic himself for the latter’s release for health reasons.
“They didn’t want the general to die here in Serbia, where he wanted. This is unjustifiable and unprecedented behavior. If his family wants him to rest here in Serbia, what I can guarantee is that it will be done with dignity and respect. We are civilized, serious and responsible people“, Vucic said.
