Milatović rejects attempts to relativize Ratko Mladić's war crimes

Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović issued a sharp rebuke after Andrija Mandić, the speaker of the parliament and leader of New Serb Democracy, publicly extended condolences over the death of Ratko Mladić.

Mandić posted on X that he had offered his sympathies to Darko Mladić, in his own name and on behalf of the party, "on the death of his father, General Ratko Mladić."

Mladić, the former commander of the Army of the Republika Srpska, died yesterday in the prison in Scheveningen. He had been legally sentenced to life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica, the terrorizing of the residents of Sarajevo, and the persecution, killings and other war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Milatović: this is not a political stance

Milatović's office underlined that Mladić's responsibility was established by a final judgment of an international court and warned against using condolences as a pretext to soften or relativize those crimes. "The attitude toward the family of the deceased cannot be used as an excuse to relativize the war crimes," the president's office said.

It added that Montenegro must respect international court verdicts, clearly condemn war crimes and protect the dignity of victims and their families. "Every glorification and relativization of war crimes must be rejected," the statement said.

Ervin Ibrahimmović, Montenegro's foreign minister and leader of the Bosniak Party, also reacted to Mandić's post. "A legally convicted war criminal, alive or dead, deserves nothing but contempt. Anything else is (covert) glorification of criminals, atrocities, genocide and genocidal policies," he wrote on X.

In July 2024 Croatia declared Andrija Mandić persona non grata together with Milan Knežević and Aleks Bečić. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said the decision came because of their "systematic actions to disrupt good-neighbourly relations with the Republic of Croatia and the continuous abuse of the Republic of Croatia for domestic political purposes."

Separately, Russia has accused the Hague tribunal of causing Mladić's death through inhumane treatment while in custody.

Photo: press material from the event