Serbia’s Democratic Party (DS) said Thursday that the death of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić does not alter facts established by international courts or erase responsibility for crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In a statement following Mladić’s death, the opposition party stressed that he was convicted of genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
“Today, above all, we think of the victims and their families. The thousands of people who were killed, expelled and forever marked by the war deserve our respect, the truth and remembrance,” DS said.
The party warned that Mladić’s death must not be used to relativize facts established by the courts, promote nationalism or glorify convicted war criminals.
DS said Serbia can have a future only if it is capable of addressing its past responsibly and urged state institutions, political parties and public officials to avoid turning Mladić’s death into an opportunity for historical revisionism.
“Confronting the past is not an act against one’s own people. On the contrary, it is a prerequisite for ensuring that future generations do not carry the burden of crimes they did not commit,” the party said.
DS also reaffirmed its commitment to peace, reconciliation and respect for every victim, describing its vision as that of a European Serbia with the strength to call established facts by their proper names.
The statement comes amid sharply divided reactions in Serbia and across the region to Mladić’s death, with some political and media figures mourning or praising him, while others have emphasized the international court findings and the suffering of his victims.
Mladić died in The Hague at the age of 84 after serving a life sentence for crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
