September the 9th, 2026 – Through various political figures, Croatia has sent out the clear message that glorifying Ratko Mladić is contrary to EU values and that all talks with Serbia must be suspended.
Croatian politician Tonino Picula has warned that glorifying Ratko Mladić or relativising his crimes is “contrary to the values on which the European Union is founded.” “The burial of Ratko Mladić cannot be viewed solely as a private event because the participation of representatives of state institutions, members of the army and members of the authorities sends a clear political message.
Index reports that the disgraced war criminal Ratko Mladić was finally convicted of genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and war crimes. “Any glorification of him or relativisation of his crimes is directly contrary to the values on which the European Union is founded,” Picula stated.
serbia must confront its past
“Serbia’s desired EU path is not only a matter of opening negotiating chapters and fulfilling technical criteria, but above all a question of political choice and acceptance of European values. Serbia cannot at the same time claim that membership in the European Union is its strategic goal while tolerating or institutionally accompanying the glorification of people convicted of the most serious war crimes.
The European Union must not relativise such an event. The authorities in Belgrade must be required to make a clear break with the policy of historical revisionism and an unambiguous attitude towards the judgments of international courts. The European perspective also implies the ability of society and the state to confront the past, rather than glorify its darkest protagonists. Serbia chooses its own path, but the credibility of its European path will also depend on whether it is prepared to accept the truth about the crimes committed and stop glorifying their perpetrators,” Picula added.
a convicted war criminal for the world is apparently a man deserving of the highest honours in serbia
The former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, Ratko Mladić, who was finally sentenced to life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995, for the persecution and forced displacement of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, sniper activity, shelling and terrorising of civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, and for taking members of UN peacekeeping forces hostage in retaliation for NATO bombings in 1995, died on 27 August in the prison hospital of the Hague Tribunal.
He was buried yesterday in the family tomb at Topčider Cemetery with church rites and military honours. Among the thousands of people in the procession and funeral cortège were individual ministers of the Serbian government and officials of Republika Srpska, while the service in the church was led by Patriarch Porfirije with bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
