PATRIARCH SERVES FUNERAL SERVICE FOR GENERAL MLADIĆ AT ST. LUKE CHURCH

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 7 /SRNA/ – His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia is serving a funeral service for General Ratko Mladić at St. Luke Church in the Vidikovac neighbourhood of Belgrade.

A large number of hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church are concelebrating with the Patriarch. Attending the funeral service are Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan, Prime Minister Savo Minić, National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić, President Milorad Dodik, and Serb BiH Presidency member Željka Cvijanović. Also present in the church are ministers in the governments of Republika Srpska and Serbia, representatives of political parties from Republika Srpska, Montenegrin politicians Milan Knežević and Vladislav Dajković, as well as Serb representatives from North Macedonia. Members of the Serbian Armed Forces Honour Guard are standing guard during the funeral service. The coffin with General Mladić's remains has been displayed in St. Luke Church this morning, where thousands of people came to bid farewell to the former commander of the Republika Srpska Army's Main Staff. People lit candles in prayer outside the church, thus paying tribute to General Mladić. During the procession, soldiers stood alongside the general's bier. General Mladić’s military cap has been placed on the coffin, while all his decorations, an Orthodox cross, and a wreath in the colors of the Serb tricolor have been displayed beside it. Dozens of buses and several hundred passenger cars carrying demobilized veterans, family members of fallen soldiers, and citizens departed from Republika Srpska for General Mladić’s funeral in Belgrade. According to the funeral protocol, arrival at Topčider Cemetery, where General Mladić will be laid to eternal rest with the highest military honours, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. General Mladić died on August 27 at a detention hospital in The Hague.