Britain has summoned Serbia’s charge d’affaires in London to condemn commemorations surrounding this week’s funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Tuesday that Mladic presided over crimes that were “among the worst committed in Europe since the Second World War”.
“The denial and whitewashing of his crimes is an affront to international law and directly undermines regional stability and trust,” a foreign office spokesperson said.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said political leaders and public institutions had a responsibility to look to the future and support regional reconciliation rather than reopen old wounds.
It also stressed that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established by the UN Security Council and that Serbia was obliged to respect its judgments.
“Glorification of a convicted war criminal directly undermines trust, fuels division and is incompatible with the process of reconciliation within Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region,” the statement said.
Mladic's war crimes
Mladic, a former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, died in The Hague on August 27 at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
He was convicted of crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, including genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
More than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in the massacre, one of the worst atrocities in Europe since the Second World War.
