Srebrenica Memorial Centre head slams von der Leyen response to Mladic funeral

Suljagic was one of a number of Bosniak officials and organisations to criticise the European Union's muted response to Monday's farewell ceremony, attended in Belgrade by five Serbian government ministers, senior Bosnian Serb officials and thousands of other people.

Von der Leyen condemned the scenes at the funeral today, stressing that Mladic was a convicted war criminal responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. She described the presence of senior Serbian officials and elements of official support for the ceremony as "deeply regrettable", saying they showed a failure to confront a dark chapter in Europe's recent history and contradicted the values underpinning Serbia's path towards the EU.

"The only regrettable thing in this entire affair is that von der Leyen refuses to call things by their rightful name," Suljagic wrote on X.

"Five Serbian government ministers attended. Serbian soldiers stood guard over his coffin. His body was transported in a Serbian government aircraft, under the Serbian state flag. If this is not state involvement, what is?," he said.

He added, "we will remember who stood with us and who looked away. We will especially remember it the next time an EU official asks to visit Srebrenica Memorial Centre. We have had enough of people paying lip service to the victims while proceeding to shake hands with politicians dreaming of future genocides."

The wave of anger among Bosniak officials and victims' organisations was triggered by a statement yesterday by European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho. Responding to a question about the ceremony in Belgrade, she said it had not been a state funeral for a war criminal.

The Mothers of Srebrenica also responded to her statement.

"Why don't you call things by their proper name? Do you think you will be able to come to Potočari easily after all this?" they wrote on X, tagging the European Commission, the European Parliament and senior EU officials von der Leyen, Kaja Kallas and Antonio Costa.

Mladić was commander of the Army of Republika Srpska during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was convicted of genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. After the fall of Srebrenica, forces under his command killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, while tens of thousands of women, children and elderly people were expelled from the area.

He died last month while serving a life sentence in prison.