Repainted mural of Ratko Mladić in Belgrade: Action "Let's free Serbia from hatred"

The mural of convicted war criminal and former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska Ratko Mladić was painted over in the center of Belgrade on May 9.

Activists covered Mladić's mural with white spray.

The day before, activists and citizens tried to remove the mural with steel brushes, but the action ended by drawing a red heart that covered Mladić's face.

A red heart remained on the wall where the mural was located.

Đorđe Miketić, a member of the Serbian Parliament of the Zajedno party, participated in both actions.

Miketić told Radio Free Europe (RSE) that as part of the "Free Serbia from Hate" campaign, they painted over a mural celebrating a war criminal.

"Yesterday we painted a heart over the criminal's face, and today we erased letters of gratitude. Just like this mural, which is protected by a special coating, Serbia cannot rid itself of hatred and violence in one move. It will be a long and difficult process," said Miketić. .

"We are doing this as angry citizens, because this mural, which celebrates the war criminal responsible for the death of children, is located 200 meters from the 'Vladislav Ribnikar' school," he added.

In the "Vladislav Ribnikar" elementary school in Belgrade, eight children and a security guard were killed on May 3 in an armed attack by a 13-year-old student of that school. Six students and a teacher were wounded.

Stopping the promotion of violence in the media and public space was one of the demands from the "Serbia against violence" protest that was held on May 8 in Belgrade at the invitation of the parliamentary opposition.

Serbia was rocked by two mass murders last Sunday.

Only a day after the tragedy at the school, in two villages near Mladenovac, an armed assailant killed eight people and wounded 14.

MP Đorđe Miketić thanked the citizens who, as he said, helped the action of repainting the mural of war crimes convicts.

"We invite all citizens to get involved in the action to liberate Serbia from hatred and for everyone to remove swastikas, letters Z celebrating the war in Ukraine, pictures of convicted war criminals, calls for death of any kind from their facades," said Miketić.

Citizens repeatedly threw paint at Mladić's mural

A mural dedicated to the former commander of the Republika Srpska Army, who was sentenced to life imprisonment before an international court, was painted by unknown authors in July 2021 on the facade of a residential building in the center of Belgrade.

That mural appeared a month after the court in Hag Mladić confirmed life imprisonment and citizens have thrown paint at it several times.

The Belgrade municipality of Vračar, on whose territory there is a building with a mural of Ratko Mladić, announced on December 9 that, in accordance with regulations, it had removed the mural at the request of the building's occupants.

However, the mural was returned to its original state in less than half an hour. As many times before, it was cleaned by a group of unknown young men.

It is suspected that the authors of the mural belong to right-wing and fan groups.

The former commander of the Republika Srpska Army, Ratko Mladić, was sentenced before the Hague Tribunal to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of laws or customs of war during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. years.