Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian-Serb military commander known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," died on Thursday at 84. He had been sentenced to life in prison for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, mainly for his role in the Bosnian war and the Srebrenica massacre.
Serbia's Justice Minister, Nenad Vujic, announced that Mladic will receive a funeral with military and state honors. According to Vujic, the Serbian government is awaiting information from authorities in The Hague, Netherlands, regarding the handover of the former general's body.
Vujic told Serbian radio station K1 that the country is ready to go to The Hague as soon as it knows what the next steps will be. The minister stated that Mladic will receive "all the military and state honors he is entitled to."
The decision to offer state honors to the former general stands out given his history of international convictions for serious crimes, including the Srebrenica genocide, considered one of the most brutal episodes of the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.