A convict of genocide and other war crimes, Ratko Mladić, passed away in a detention unit in The Hague, and the mayor of Banja Luka, Draško Stanivuković, posted his reaction.
As expected, Stanivuković glorified Mladić in his message.
“I express my deepest condolences to the family of the general Ratko Mladić following his death, and to all the people who saw him as a symbol of one time and one fight. For the Serbs, Ratko Mladić remains a man whose name is deeply entrenched in our history. A man who, as many remember, carried the hardest moments of his people on his back, who made sacrifices for his people, and whose name and legacy will continue to live on,” Stanivuković wrote.
He said that “time will write history,” and that different “persons and policies will judge it,” but that “people will remember those who they believe fought for them.”
“May God grant the strength to his family in these hard moments, and to the general, eternal peace and gratitude,” added the mayor of Banja Luka.
Of course, his message did not refer to the final and binding verdicts against Mladić, while glorifying war criminals is, as a reminder, a criminal offense in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Hague Tribunal and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals sentenced Ratko Mladić by a final judgment to life imprisonment for genocide against the Bosniak population in Srebrenica, years-long terrorizing and shelling of the citizens of Sarajevo, persecution, extermination, and taking UN personnel hostage.
