Ratko Mladic, known as the "Butcher of the Balkans", was buried with military honors in Serbia. The funeral took place on Tuesday at the cemetery in Pale, in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia, a Serbian-majority territory within Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Mladic was regarded as a hero.
Mladic was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on several serious charges, including genocide for his role in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. He was also convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the siege of Sarajevo.
Serbian authorities decided to ignore international criticism and not extradite the body to be buried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, as had been requested. The funeral was attended by hundreds of people who paid honors to the former military commander.
The European Union issued a warning to Serbia, stating that the country cannot join the bloc until it demonstrates full commitment to European values and cooperation with the International Criminal Court.
