Former Army chief Mladić's body heads to Serbia as thousands expected at funeral

The body of former Bosnian Serb Army commander General Ratko Mladić has been taken from The Hague and is expected to arrive in Belgrade on September 3, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said.

“I think the family will send an accurate notification, but as far as I know, the body has already been handed over and it will arrive in Serbia late in the evening,” Vučić underlined.

Vučić also said that several tens of thousands of people are expected to attend Mladić’s funeral, stressing that security measures would therefore need to cover the entire cemetery.

Serbian TV channel reported on August 27 that Mladić, who was convicted of genocide, had died. 

Milorad Dodik, chairman of the Union of Independent Social Democrats, the leading political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska entity, described Mladić’s death as a premeditated murder.

The Hague Tribunal later ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mladić’s death.

By Vafa Guliyeva