Croatian ministers warn Serbia remains trapped in 1990s ideology following Mladic funeral

The Hague convict Mladic was buried on Monday in a family tomb at Belgrade's Topcider Cemetery with church rites and military honors, and among thousands of people in the procession were individual ministers of the Serbian government and officials of the RS entity. Minister Anusic said these facts confirm that Serbia is still pursuing the policy of the 1990s.

The celebration of a war criminal, the only one convicted of genocide since the Second World War, is unacceptable, the defense minister emphasized. He expressed hope that the European Commission and others will deliver a political bill for these events to Serbia. Serbia must once and for all receive a message on how it should behave and which values to respect if it wants to be part of the western world or generally a partner at all levels, Anusic concluded.

The European Commission did not take a harsh stance on the events in Belgrade, considering that the funeral did not take place, as it says, with state honors. We heard that a funeral with state honors was planned, but that did not happen, Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho stated, just days after EC Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos canceled her planned visit to Serbia due to the glorification of Mladic.

Croatian Veterans Affairs Minister Tomo Medved said that Belgrade tried to rhetorically avoid the fact that this was a send-off at the state level, but that the opposite was proven from the very first moment. The state was very much present at the ceremony, with officials, the army, and all honors, Medved said, adding that accordingly Serbia has never accepted its role in the crimes. In this specific case, we can also see in practice that Serbia is not giving up the bearers and implementers of a criminal ideology, the veterans minister said, as reported by Hina.