Danilo Vučić, the son of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, has attended the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Belgrade.
Danilo Vučić was seen at the ceremony accompanied by several people wearing T-shirts bearing the image of Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by an international tribunal in The Hague.
Milorad Dodik, the leading political figure in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb entity, Republika Srpska, is also attending the funeral.
Banja Luka Mayor Draško Stanivuković was also seen at the Church of St. Luke, where the funeral ceremony is being held.
Several Serbian government ministers are attending the ceremony as well, including Justice Minister Nikola Vujić.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is not attending the funeral. He has cited the visit of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Belgrade as the reason for his absence.
Mladić, who died at the age of 84, was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Srebrenica genocide and the campaign of terror against civilians during the siege of Sarajevo.
His funeral has drawn renewed scrutiny over the treatment of Mladić’s legacy in Serbia, with European officials and human rights organizations criticizing the public glorification of a person convicted of genocide.
