Vucic on Mladic Funeral: If Family Wants, State Will Help Ensure Dignified Burial

Ratko Mladic mural (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/DS)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Aug. 28 that if the family of Ratko Mladic, wartime commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, decided that he should be buried in Serbia, the state will help with arrangements for a "dignified and proper funeral."

Vucic said Serbia received no information from The Hague regarding the handover of Mladic's body or its possible transfer to Serbia. "We have sent teams to The Hague to help with logistics, including transportation. I cannot say anything more because we haven’t received any information from The Hague. Everything we are reading in the newspapers is false. We have heard that one possibility is for General Mladic to be buried in Belgrade next to his daughter. Whether this will happen or not, we cannot say, because the body is not in Serbia," Vucic said after the opening of the Plum Fair in Osecina.

He said The Hague "wanted Mladic to die behind bars," adding that he had never believed, and still does not believe in "Hague justice." "They did not want to allow General Mladic to die in Serbia, where he wanted to be. That is an unprecedented and unjustifiable act of uncivilized behavior. If the family wants him to be buried in Serbia, we will help with arrangments for a dignified and proper funeral, because we are civilized and decent people," Vucic said.