In Belgrade, thousands of people came to Ratko Mladić’s funeral. The farewell ceremony is taking place at the small Church of St. Luke, rather than at the Cathedral of St. Sava, where state funerals are usually held, UNN reports, citing DW.
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Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić had earlier announced that Mladić would be buried with "military and state honors," but President Aleksandar Vučić reversed the decision.
Buses carrying people from other regions of Serbia and from Republika Srpska — an autonomous entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina — are arriving at the church en masse. According to AFP, many of those who came to the funeral are veterans of the Yugoslav Wars. An honor guard of soldiers surrounds the coffin containing the general’s body. Serbian flags and a stretched-out banner calling Mladić a "hero" have been hung near the church. Many ceremony attendees call him that as well, AFP reports. According to the agency, the coffin containing the body will be displayed for several hours for mourners to pay their respects, followed by a memorial service. It may be conducted personally by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije. The coffin will then be taken to the cemetery.
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Mladić died on August 27 at the age of 84 at a UN detention center in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Among his victims and others, he is known as the "Butcher of Bosnia."
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found him guilty, among other things, of involvement in the mass killing of around 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 and crimes committed during the siege of Sarajevo.