Helsinki Committee in Serbia: Mladic’s Funeral Served To Send a Clear Message that Serbia and Republika Srpska Are One

BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC

The funeral service for Ratko Mladic in Belgrade served as an ideal stage to send a clear message that Serbia and Republika Srpska (RS) are one, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia said on Sept. 8.

In a statement, the organization said that the funeral of the wartime commander of the RS Army “cannot be observed as a spontaneous outburst of emotion or an unforeseen excess,” but instead, as “a skillfully prepared and synchronized performance in which the state, the army, and the church acted on the same joint task: the glorification of a war criminal.” “Tens of thousands of people at his funeral, with state honors and attendance of RS Army veterans, show that the attitude toward Mladic has not fundamentally changed,” the Helsinki Committee said.

The organization also said that the West has watched for years as individuals legally convicted of the gravest war crimes were rehabilitated and glorified, while simultaneously discussing “Serbia’s European perspective, regional stability, and Belgrade’s constructive role.” The Helsinki Committee further said that “what world officials treat today as a shock and an incident is actually a direct consequence of their own long-standing calculation,” explaining that “Western diplomacy consciously chose apparent stability instead of essential democratization.”