EC: Glorifying war criminals has no place in the EU or candidate countries
Brussels said praise for convicted Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić contradicts EU values after Montenegrin politicians published condolences.
The European Commission on Friday (28 August) said that any glorification of war criminals runs counter to European values and has no place in either the European Union or in candidate countries.
Brussels reaction follows reports of Montenegrin politicians praising Ratko Mladić
The statement from the European Commission was issued after requests for comment about media reports that several Montenegrin politicians and officials from ruling parties had praised the former Bosnian Serb Army commander and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, who died yesterday in The Hague.
The Commission reminded interlocutors that Mladić had been serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity and the genocide at Srebrenica, and that he had been found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017; that judgment was upheld on appeal by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in 2021.
Montenegrin parliamentary speaker and leader of New Serb Democracy (NSD), Andrija Mandić, was singled out in media accounts after posting on the social platform X that he had offered condolences to Darko Mladić "on the death of his father, General Ratko Mladić," in his own name and on behalf of NSD.
President Jakov Milatović responded that showing sympathy to the family of the deceased cannot be used to relativize war crimes and stressed that Montenegro must respect international court rulings, clearly condemn war crimes, protect the dignity of victims and their families, and reject any glorification or relativization of such crimes.
Ervin Ibrahimović, Montenegro’s foreign minister and leader of the Bosniak Party (BP), wrote on X: "A legally convicted war criminal, alive or dead, deserves only contempt," adding that anything else amounts to (hidden) glorification of criminals, crimes, genocide and genocidal politics. Nik Gjelošaj, deputy prime minister representing some Albanian parties, also condemned the celebration of a convicted war criminal as a reflection of present-day values.
The reactions come against a backdrop in which at least four ministers and one deputy prime minister in the governing coalition are members of New Serb Democracy. The Europe Now movement of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić has not yet issued a position on the conduct of coalition colleagues.
Photo: Arhiva
