Serbia: How the funeral of Ratko Mladic is dividing a nation

The body of the former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic , who died last week in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina , has arrived back in Serbia .

Wrapped in the Serbian flag, Mladic's coffin was carried by members of the Serbian Armed Forces from the plane to a vehicle that transported his remains to the Military Medical Academy for autopsy.

Several groups of citizens gathered along the route from the airport to the hospital. Standing on overpasses, they greeted the motorcade carrying Mladic's body, holding banners that read "Thank you, General" and "Heroes never die."

Pro-government tabloids provided minute-by-minute coverage, referring to Mladic as a "Serbian general" and claiming that he had been "killed in The Hague."

Ratko Mladic was sentenced in 2017 to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for the genocide in Srebrenica , in which more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, the years-long siege of Sarajevo during the 1992–95 Bosnian War, and other war crimes, including the establishment of detention camps for non-Serb civilians and prisoners of war.

Belgrade media report that Mladic will be buried in Belgrade on Monday. Justice Minister Nenad Vujic had previously announced that the funeral would be held with the highest state honors.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, however, says the decision will be left to the family.

Security agencies estimate that tens of thousands of people could attend the funeral.