Serbian opposition politician Janko Veselinović has launched a fierce attack on President Aleksandar Vučić over the possibility of his attending the funeral of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić.
Speaking to Danas, Veselinović accused Vučić of political opportunism, arguing that the Serbian president would be willing to pay tribute to anyone if he believed it could bring him political support.
“Coward and political opportunist. He will kneel at anyone’s grave if it brings him political points,” Veselinović said, adding that Vučić’s position on Mladić’s funeral would ultimately depend on calculations by his political and marketing advisers.
Veselinović also accused Vučić of being politically responsible for the nationalist slogan “100 Muslims for one Serb,” linking the president to the rhetoric associated with the wars of the 1990s.
His criticism came amid renewed controversy over the public treatment of Mladić following his death. Mladić, the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Veselinović drew a direct political comparison between the two men.
“Mladić, alive or dead, is the same as Vučić a piece of asphalt or a sewer that he promises but never delivers,” he told Danas, using a metaphor aimed at Vučić’s record of political promises and infrastructure projects.
The remarks reflect the increasingly heated debate within Serbia over how the country should address Mladić’s legacy. While supporters and nationalist groups have sought to portray the former military commander as a Serbian hero, survivors and victims’ representatives have repeatedly rejected such attempts to rehabilitate his image.
Veselinović’s comments add another layer to the political controversy, framing the question of Mladić’s funeral not simply as a matter of commemoration, but as a test of Vučić’s political calculations and his government’s approach to Serbia’s wartime past.
The Serbian president has yet to make his final decision on whether he will attend the funeral.
