Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, who died in The Hague while serving a life sentence for genocide and war crimes, was buried at Belgrade's Topčider Cemetery.
The funeral service was conducted by the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Porfirije, with the bishops of the SPC officiating, after which the procession headed to the Topčider Cemetery.
Thousands of citizens gathered in front of the Church of St. Luke in the Belgrade neighborhood of Vidikovac to pay their respects to Mladić.
Among those who came to pay their respects to Mladić were officials of the Democratic People's Party - MP in the Parliament of Montenegro Vladislav Bojović and the President of the Municipality of Zeta Mihailo Asanović...
The coffin with Mladić's body was lowered into the grave with an honor guard from members of the Serbian Army, next to the grave where his daughter Ana is buried.
His son Darko Mladić thanked those present for the "magnificent farewell", and then, through tears, he said, "personally addressed his father", stating that he "saved the Serbian people".
He stated that the enemy "tried to kill Mladić several times and to bribe him, but they failed. He added that they tried to scare him because they killed his daughter, but "they failed to do that either."
"In the end, all that was left was to invent lies about you in order to make you hated by the people and the world. They created artificial courts for our heroes in order to turn defenders into criminals and traitors into heroes. Thank you, brothers, for coming to judge whether my father is a hero or a criminal," said Darko Mladić, to which the crowd shouted "hero."
The coffin was draped with the flags of Serbia and Republika Srpska. It was escorted to the burial site by members of the Serbian Army, accompanied by a funeral march by a military band.
Family members carried his picture, decorations, and his son Darko carried a sword. These insignia were placed on the coffin in the Church of St. Luke, where Patriarch Porfirije, after the funeral service, said that the majority of the Serbian people respected Mladić.
Many citizens followed the convoy of hearses, which slowly drove from the church to the cemetery, carrying numerous national symbols, pictures of Mladić, and a huge Serbian flag.
In 2017, Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In addition to Mladić, former Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadžić was sentenced to life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica, and three other life sentences were also handed down.
Mladić's trial began on May 16, 2012, and the presentation of evidence lasted more than four years.
The Chamber sat for 530 days of trial, presenting testimonies from 592 witnesses and almost 10.000 exhibits.
Ratko Mladić died on August 27, at the age of 84, in the prison hospital in The Hague.
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