UN genocide prevention official condemns mass public glorification of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic

The backlash follows Mladic's death on August 27 in the UN detention unit in The Hague and his subsequent burial on Monday at Belgrade's Topcider Cemetery. Thousands of mourners, right-wing organizations, and state officials from Serbia and Republika Srpska attended the ceremonies, sparking regional alarm.

"Mass public commemoration of Mladic, including the participation of political officials and official ceremonial elements, is utterly inappropriate and deeply disturbing," Beyani stated. He emphasized that such actions trivialize grave breaches of international law and undermine the dignity of victims and surviving families.
Beyani noted that criminal responsibility remains strictly individual rather than collective, but warned that denialism and glorification are actively increasing. He called for immediate accountability for hate speech and stressed that regional peace requires confronting historical truth. "The voices of those advocating such a future must be louder and stronger than those who deny the truth of the past," Beyani said.