WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with Representative Keith Self (R-TX), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Europe, issued the below statement ahead of Ratko Mladic's funeral.
“Ratko Mladic was a war criminal and the architect of the Srebrenica genocide, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered. His forces were also responsible for the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo, one of the longest in modern history. Together, his actions constitute some of the most inhumane atrocities committed on European soil since World War II.
“It is a desecration—to the memory of his victims and to a region still living with the consequences of his campaign of ethnic cleansing—for any government to memorialize or glorify his death. It is already deeply troubling that Serbia has announced Mladic will be buried with state and military honors and that Milorad Dodik hailed Mladic as ‘a fighter for Serbian freedom.’
“Ahead of Monday's funeral, we call on the Government of Serbia and the Government of Republika Srpska to refrain from any association with the planned ceremonies and to ensure that no public statement or official act memorializes Mladic as anything other than what he was: a convicted architect of genocide.
“The coming days will be a test of whether Serbia and Republika Srpska are prepared to break from the past and advance toward EU accession and Euro-Atlantic integration—or whether they will allow that past to once again stand in the way of a better future for their people.”
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