Serbian government ministers came out yesterday to receive and escort the body of Ratko Mladic, who was eventually convicted of genocide and war crimes, giving his return to Serbia a treatment usually reserved for state figures.

His body arrived in Belgrade on September 3 by government plane and was received with military honors.

Justice Minister Nenad Vujic was among the officials who accompanied the body. on the way back from The Hague.

The coffin, draped with the Serbian flag, was taken out of the plane by six soldiers, while the procession then headed towards the Military Medical Academy (MMA), under police escort, writes Klix.ba

The footage of the arrival created a scene that raises big questions about the way the Serbian authorities handle the verdicts of international courts and a person convicted of some of the most serious crimes of the war.

Citizens gathered along the route of the procession in Belgrade with flags, banners and flares.

On one of the bridges there was also a banner calling Mladic a “Serbian hero”.

Mladic was not just an ordinary soldier.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including his role in the massacre of Srebrenica, where about 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were killed, as well as the siege of Sarajevo, where thousands of civilians lost their lives.

However, instead of his return being accompanied by reflection on the crimes for which he was convicted, Serbia chose honors, flags, military escort and ceremony.

In fact, the Minister of Justice had stated earlier that Mladic would be buried with “full state and military honors”, arguing that protocols for his rank as a general would be respected.

Source: prizrenpost