EU denounces funeral ceremony for 'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladic

'Images from Ratko Mladic’s funeral yesterday in Belgrade were shocking,' says EU Commission chief

The European Commission president on Tuesday denounced the funeral ceremony held for convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia." "The images from Ratko Mladic’s funeral yesterday in Belgrade were shocking. Ratko Mladic was a convicted war criminal. He was responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity," Ursula von der Leyen wrote on US social media company X. She called the apparent official support and presence of some senior Serbian officials at the funeral "deeply regrettable." "They demonstrate a failure to confront a dark chapter in Europe’s recent history and contradict the values underpinning Serbia’s path towards the European Union," von der Leyen added. At a European Commission news briefing, spokesperson Guillaume Mercier was asked if the bloc still wants to open another cluster in Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union. Telling how the European Commission recommended in July, following technical assessments, the opening of the Cluster 3 EU accession negotiating chapters with Serbia, Mercier said the assessment was made based on the relevant elements available at the time. "The discussion on Cluster 3 is currently with the member states, and this discussion will need to take place also considering the latest political developments that we have seen," he noted. Mladic, a former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, died in The Hague on Aug. 27 at age 84 while serving a life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. He was convicted of crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, including genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.