Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, was buried on Monday with military honours and crowds attending as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II.
Thousands of mourners started arriving early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Belgrade to honour Mladic as his body lay in state.
Mladic is still viewed as a hero by many Serbs. His military officer’s cap and sabre rested on the coffin, which was flanked by men in fatigues.
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, led the funeral service while Serbian army soldiers carried Mladic’s flag-draped coffin at the cemetery as mourners clapped and a military orchestra played. Pro-government media broadcast the ceremony live.
Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and the Russian ambassador in Serbia, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, were among those present at the funeral.