URGENT APPEAL
Announced State and Military Honours for Ratko Mladić
Serbia and official participation from Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Request for preventive action, accountability and appropriate consequences
29 August 2026
To the competent European and international institutions, diplomatic missions and public authorities,
We write with urgency following the public announcement by Serbia's Minister of Justice that Ratko Mladić would receive the highest State and military honours in connection with his funeral.
Ratko Mladić was finally sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. His convictions include genocide at Srebrenica and the campaign of terror against Sarajevo's civilian population.
This appeal does not challenge the right of Mladić's family to a private burial or private mourning. It concerns official and institutionally supported glorification by public authorities in the Republic of Serbia and by authorities, office-holders or public institutions of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Recent public reactions make this broader scope necessary. Senior political figures and officials from Republika Srpska have already publicly praised Mladić and participated in commemorative events following his death. Any future attendance at the funeral must therefore be assessed according to the capacity in which an official attends and whether public authority, public resources, institutional representation or official endorsement is involved.
Four concrete objectives
1. Prevent official State and military glorification before and during the funeral.
We ask competent institutions to use available diplomatic, political and institutional means to press Serbian authorities to refrain from the announced State and military honours. We also ask them to discourage official, publicly funded or institutionally endorsed participation by authorities and office-holders of Republika Srpska in any act intended to glorify Mladić. This does not seek to prohibit the burial or private attendance.
2. Prevent permanent institutionalisation of glorification.
We ask relevant authorities in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure that public or State-administered space is not transformed through official monuments, commemorative infrastructure, recurring public ceremonies, public financing or institutional support into a permanent site of glorification of Mladić or of the crimes and ideology associated with his legacy. Lawful private remembrance and ordinary cemetery access are not the target of this request.
3. Document institutional and individual political responsibility.
Where public officials from Serbia or Republika Srpska organise, finance, officially endorse or participate in institutional glorification, we ask international actors to record who acted, in what official capacity, and what public resources or institutions were involved.
4. Ensure appropriate consequences if officials proceed.
For Serbia, we ask that such conduct be reflected, where legally and institutionally relevant, in diplomatic dialogue, international monitoring and EU accession assessments. For responsible office-holders or institutional actors from Republika Srpska, we ask relevant States and international institutions to consider appropriate political and diplomatic measures and, where a lawful restrictive-measures framework and evidentiary threshold apply, targeted measures against the responsible individuals or entities.
This risk is neither hypothetical nor unprecedented
Serbia has already witnessed institutional and public glorification of persons convicted by the ICTY. The treatment of Nebojša Pavković after his return and death, including official participation in commemorative events, was subsequently noted negatively in IRMCT reporting.
Public space in Serbia has also repeatedly been used for murals, graffiti and symbols glorifying convicted war criminals, including Ratko Mladić. European and United Nations actors have previously raised concerns about such glorification.
The present concern also extends beyond Serbia. Public praise and commemorative participation by senior Republika Srpska figures immediately after Mladić's death demonstrate why official involvement from Bosnia and Herzegovina must be monitored as well.
These precedents show why the response cannot end with the funeral. A State-honoured burial, combined with recurring official commemoration, can contribute to long-term political heroisation.
Reconciliation cannot remain a one-sided obligation
For more than three decades, Bosnia and Herzegovina — particularly survivors, victims' families, returnees and civil society — has repeatedly been called upon to demonstrate restraint, pursue coexistence and contribute to reconciliation.
Reconciliation cannot be imposed indefinitely upon those who survived the crimes while public authorities tolerate or participate in the glorification of persons finally convicted for them. Serbia, and political institutions and office-holders within Bosnia and Herzegovina, must undertake their own work of historical reckoning and institutional responsibility.
The burden of preserving peace cannot continually be placed upon victims while institutional glorification remains without consequence.
We therefore call upon competent institutions, within their respective mandates, to:
- urgently raise the announced State and military honours with Serbian authorities and call upon them to refrain from institutional glorification;
- raise concerns with relevant authorities and political representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding any official, publicly funded or institutionally endorsed participation from Republika Srpska;
- seek clarification on the involvement of Serbian government officials, the Serbian Armed Forces, State protocol, Republika Srpska officials, public institutions, delegations and public resources;
- monitor and document official participation, financing, endorsements and subsequent commemorative initiatives;
- oppose the development of official monuments, recurring State-supported ceremonies or publicly supported commemorative infrastructure that would institutionalise glorification;
- formally record relevant conduct in EU, Council of Europe, UN and other applicable monitoring, reporting and assessment processes;
- take relevant Serbian State conduct into account in EU accession assessments and political dialogue where the applicable criteria permit;
- consider appropriate political and diplomatic consequences for responsible officials and, where an existing lawful restrictive-measures framework and the required evidentiary threshold apply, consider targeted measures against responsible individuals or entities; and
- encourage diplomatic representatives not to participate in official acts of glorification and to communicate concerns directly to the relevant authorities.