Britain has summoned the caretaker Serbian embassy in London to condemn the attendance of Serbian state and military officials at the funeral of convicted former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the British Foreign Office, BTA reported.
The ministry said that "any glorification of the war criminal undermines reconciliation and regional stability in the Western Balkans".
General Ratko Mladic, a former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, was sentenced to life in prison for genocide and war crimes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina by 1992 to 1995. He died on 27 August this year at the age of 84 in the custody of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague and was buried on 7 September in Belgrade. The funeral service at the church of “St. Luke“ in the Belgrade neighborhood of “Vidikovac“, celebrated by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, and Mladić's funeral were attended by thousands of people, including Serbian officials.
Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and war crimes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, was buried with military honors at the Topčider cemetery in Belgrade. Mladić died on 27 August this year at the age of 84 in the custody of the International Residual Mechanism for criminal courts in The Hague.
The funeral service in the church of “St. Luke“ in the Belgrade district of “Vidikovac“, celebrated by the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, and the funeral of Mladić were attended by thousands of people who came from the early morning hours of September 7. According to them, Mladić is not a criminal, but, as they said, “a hero who defended the Serbian people“, and it was precisely such motifs that were most often seen on the T-shirts and banners of many people around the church. Many of them arrived in organized buses from Republika Srpska - one of the two constituent parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Serbs live mainly - and various cities in Serbia.