Thousands gather for funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic

Mladic, the former commanding general of the Bosnian Serb Army of the Republika Srpska, died earlier this week at age 81 while serving a life sentence at The Hague. He had been convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, most notably for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which over 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were killed.

Thousands of mourners gathered in the Serbian capital to pay their respects, with supporters viewing him as a national figure despite his international conviction. The funeral procession reflected deep-rooted divisions that persist across the region nearly three decades after the outbreak of conflict, as different communities maintain vastly different interpretations of the wars and those who led military campaigns.

Mladic had evaded capture for 16 years following the wars before his arrest in 2011. His trial, which lasted several years, presented extensive evidence documenting systematic atrocities. The international court's guilty verdict and life sentence were celebrated by victims' families and human rights advocates internationally, though his legacy remains contested in parts of the former Yugoslavia where some continue to regard him as a war hero.