{"id":217810,"date":"2026-09-06T09:51:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T07:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=217810"},"modified":"2026-09-06T09:51:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T07:51:35","slug":"behind-the-state-farewell-for-ratko-mladic-lies-a-battle-for-votes-political-analyst-claims-sns-wants-to-win-over-citizens-with-the-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/behind-the-state-farewell-for-ratko-mladic-lies-a-battle-for-votes-political-analyst-claims-sns-wants-to-win-over-citizens-with-the-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBEHIND THE STATE FAREWELL FOR RATKO MLADI\u0106 LIES A BATTLE FOR VOTES\u201d: Political analyst claims SNS wants to win over citizens with the honors!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The funeral<\/a><\/em><\/strong> of Ratko Mladi\u0107, who was convicted as a war criminal by a final judgment of the Hague tribunal, will be held on Monday, September 7, at Top\u010dider Cemetery, while a memorial service will be held at the Army House on September 5, starting at noon. Despite statements by Justice Minister Nenad Vuji\u0107 that Mladi\u0107 would be buried with the highest state and military honors, it was later stated that the family would be responsible for making the decision about the funeral. The way in which the authorities are instrumentalizing Mladi\u0107\u2019s death is explained to Ma\u0161ina by Dragan Popovi\u0107, director of the Center for Practical Politics (CPP), and Nusreta Brun\u010devi\u0107, editor of the Takt info portal from Novi Pazar.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From claims that Mladi\u0107 would be buried with the highest military honors to statements that the family alone would decide on the funeral, the death and the issue of Ratko Mladi\u0107\u2019s funeral<\/a> have provoked conflicting reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107<\/a> said yesterday that, although he would not attend the funeral due to a previously scheduled visit by the President of Uzbekistan, he had done everything to ensure that everything proceeded in a dignified manner and that the state acted seriously and responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Dragan Popovi\u0107, director of the Center for Practical Politics (CPP), the events surrounding Mladi\u0107\u2019s funeral that have been unfolding in recent days are merely part of a broader narrative serving the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat narrative serves the Serbian Progressive Party and consists not so much of what exactly Ratko Mladi\u0107 did, but rather of the idea that the West, above all, harmed him, and consequently harmed Serbia and the Serbian people as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes that this situation and Mladi\u0107 himself are being turned into a kind of symbol of the sacrifice Serbia is supposedly enduring and for which the international community is primarily responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVu\u010di\u0107 and the regime will not use the words state funeral or anything like that, but everything else points in that direction. This government and the institutions under its control have chosen to turn Ratko Mladi\u0107 into a kind of symbol of Serbia\u2019s resistance to the West and of the sacrifice that Serbia allegedly suffered,\u201d Popovi\u0107 says, adding that they will try to use this funeral to further mobilize their electoral base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popovi\u0107 believes that most citizens of Serbia do not have any particularly strong position on this issue, and states that many surveys showing that the majority of Serbian citizens believe Ratko Mladi\u0107 was a hero are not accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Nusreta Brun\u010devi\u0107, the state\u2019s involvement in the farewell for a war criminal convicted by a final judgment represents a moment in which years of rhetoric are being transformed into concrete state policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are no longer talking here about some group, but about an entire system that is turning all of this into its policy of shaping the legacy and public consciousness at the international, public and legal levels. Ratko Mladi\u0107\u2019s legacy has literally been preserved, cemented by a final conviction for genocide,\u201d she says, adding that in Serbia this legacy has been systematically moved from the sphere of criminal responsibility into the realm of national myth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OVO IMA SAMO U SRBIJI: SNS doneo odluku da aktuelni predsednik Srbije bude kandidat za premijera na izborima, iako nije podneo ostavku!<\/a><\/blockquote>