Thousands turn out in Serbia for funeral of 'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladić
Thousands gathered in Belgrade for the funeral of Ratko Mladić, the convicted war criminal known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia.' While the EU condemned the glorification of Mladić, many in Serbia continue to view him as a national hero.
Why it matters
The event highlights the deep-seated ethnic and political divisions in the Balkans and the ongoing tension between Serbia's EU aspirations and its nationalist sentiments.
Thousands took part in a public memorial on the day of the funeral ceremony./SCREENGRAB
Thousands of people have turned out in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, to attend the funeral of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
Widely known as the Butcher of Bosnia, Mladić died at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence in the UN prison in The Hague, the Netherlands.
He was found guilty of genocide by a UN war crimes tribunal for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when around 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed. It was described as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
A Serbian government minister had initially said that Mladić would be given a state funeral but those plans were changed after objections from some European leaders. On Monday, the EU denounced Mladić's "glorification".
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2 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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