World media are featuring the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić on their front pages, reporting that thousands of people gathered to pay their respects to him and that he was given a hero’s send-off.
The AP news agency writes that the body of Ratko Mladić, who died while serving a life sentence, was put on public display this morning, while Serbia defied EU warnings not to publicly honor a man found guilty in the first case of genocide in Europe since World War II.
The agency adds that thousands of mourners gathered early this morning at St. Luke’s Church in Belgrade to pay their respects to Mladić, “whom many Serbs still regard as a hero.”
“His military cap and saber rested on the coffin, around which men in uniform stood,” an AP journalist described the atmosphere.
It also quoted pro-government media in Serbia, which reported that Mladić would be given full military honors, while the funeral service was led by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije.
The agency also quoted Milan Dobrić, who came from Kosovo to attend the funeral, saying that Mladić “was a man who gave everything in his life for the Serbian people.”
“I am glad that people came this morning to show him special respect,” he said.
AP also recalls that although the funeral was formally organized by Mladić’s family, the Serbian government sent a plane last week to transport his remains to Belgrade, while soldiers carried his coffin, wrapped in the national flag. It adds that a military commemoration was held on Saturday at the Army House.
“Populist President Aleksandar Vučić, a former extreme nationalist who supported Serbia’s expansionist policy during the wars of the 1990s, described the funeral as an outpouring of emotion that had nothing to do with whether he had allowed something or not,” AP notes.
The agency also states that, among others, Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko attended the funeral.
The American agency’s report was also featured on CNN’s front page, under the headline: “War criminal Ratko Mladić to be buried with full military honors as crowds gather.”
The Guardian: “Butcher of Bosnia” buried as a hero
In an article titled “Ratko Mladić, ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, given hero’s funeral in Serbia,” The Guardian writes that “the fanfare at the funeral of a man convicted of genocide raises questions over Serbia’s EU integration.”
The newspaper states that Mladić remains a beloved figure for many Serbs, including politicians, and also recalls that his body was brought to Serbia on a government plane, wrapped in the national flag, and carried by uniformed soldiers.
As the car carrying his remains drove from the airport, people gathered along the route, holding banners glorifying Mladić, The Guardian writes.
It adds that “scenes of military pomp prompted condemnation from European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, who on Friday canceled her upcoming visit to Serbia.
“His remains being returned to Belgrade reminds Europe of the darkest pages of our recent history,” Kos said on social media, The Guardian recalls.
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Reuters: “Mladić remains a revered figure among many Serbs”
In an article titled “Thousands gather in Belgrade for funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić,” Reuters assesses that “Mladić remains a revered figure among many Serbs in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, within Republika Srpska, despite his convictions over his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo.”
Describing the atmosphere outside St. Luke’s Church in Vidikovac, where Mladić’s body was on display, Reuters says that people carrying Serbian flags and photographs of Mladić wearing a traditional Serbian military cap arrived at the church hours before the scheduled funeral to light candles.
The agency also reports that free bus transportation was provided from Bosnia and most cities in Serbia for anyone who wanted to pay their respects.
Reuters writes that six men, mostly veterans from Serbia and Bosnia, stood around Mladić’s coffin inside the church, while his wife, son and grandchildren stood nearby and received condolences.
“Time will tell, time is the best judge that will show what kind of person someone was and whom they belonged to,” the agency quoted Belgrade resident Jovan Vinčić, who came to the church, as saying.
“Mladić’s death has stirred strong feelings about the breakup of Yugoslavia and the ethnic conflicts that followed in the Balkans,” Reuters assesses.
Deutsche Welle: Vučić found a middle ground – funeral with military, but not state honors
Deutsche Welle Serbian, under the headline “Blockbuster funeral to kick off election campaign,” states that pro-government media have turned it into a spectacle ahead of an election campaign that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić could finally lose.
The German media outlet also writes that Informer, “a mouthpiece of the authorities, is providing live coverage of the ‘magnificent send-off,’ without mentioning the approximately 8,000 Bosniak civilians and prisoners massacred by Mladić’s troops in Srebrenica.”
“The situation is tricky for Vučić. Apparently, he will call snap parliamentary elections for October 25 as early as this week, when there is a realistic chance that he could lose to the Student Movement. Vučić will run in the election as his Serbian Progressive Party’s candidate for prime minister. Observers familiar with the situation say that Vučić has therefore found a middle ground – Mladić was not buried with state honors, but with military honors, while the president said that the state respects the family’s wishes and is only providing a dignified funeral,” Deutsche Welle writes.
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Source: N1 ; Foto: BETAPHOTO/SPS/LS PHOTO
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