TRIBUTE PAID TO GENERAL MLADIĆ

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, AUGUST 28 /SRNA/ – A memorial service for General Ratko Mladić was held today at the Memorial Church of St. Great Martyr Demetrius in Veljine, Istočna Ilidža, in the presence of a large number of residents.

Following the prayer, Archpriest Dražen Delić bid farewell to General Mladić with a commemorative address. "On this holiday, Velika Gospojina/the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, we pray for the repose of the soul of our general, as well as for all those who perished and made the ultimate personal sacrifice for the freedom of the Serb people. Let us look up to our Serb hero and let us also be good and brave people, as he was," Father Delić said. Miodrag Stanić, a former member of the security team of General Ratko Mladić, commander of the Republika Srpska Army's Main Staff, told the press that this was one of the saddest days of his life and, he believed, of the lives of all Serb patriots. "The greatest among us has gone. He has gone to Miloš Obilić and Tsar Lazar," Stanić said. He added that he would remember General Mladić as an exceptional man and a fearless soldier, a man of great stature who courageously stood up to global evil while defending his people. Representatives of the Republika Srpska Military Police Veterans Association attended the memorial service wearing black T-shirts bearing Mladić's image and the message: "I was only fighting for my people." Dragan Pjević, secretary of the Military Police Veterans Association, said that he and his fellow soldiers had been deeply shaken by the news of General Mladić’s death. "These are difficult and sad days, not only for us soldiers, but for the entire Serb people, because our commander, who led us toward freedom, has passed away," Pjević added. General Ratko Mladić, wartime commander of the Main Staff of the Republika Srpska Army, died yesterday at a detention hospital in The Hague at the age of 83. General Mladić had been in the detention hospital in The Hague since 2024, where he had reportedly been bedridden for the past year and a half. The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague had rejected requests for him to be released on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment in Serbia. The Mechanism said that President Graciela Gatti Santana had "ordered an investigation into the death of General Mladić at the detention hospital in The Hague".