News in English     | 03.09.2018. 15:44 |

A monument to war criminal Ratko Mladić erected in his hometown of Kalinovik

FENA Press release

SARAJEVO, September 3 (FENA) - A mural monument honoring former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, which has been installed at the entrance to his hometown Kalinovik, was criticized for glorifying the war crimes defendant.

The 3.5-metre-high mural monument depicting Ratko Mladić uniformed and saluting, which was recently installed in his Bosnian hometown Kalinovik, has been strongly criticized by war victims’ groups and rights campaigners.

Serbian handball player Vlada Mandić, who erected the mural and who originates from Kalinovik, told media that he considered Mladić, who was convicted of genocide by the Hague Tribunal but has launched an appeal, to be a “Serb hero”.

Aleksandra Letić of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska said the Mladić tribute shows “the actual image of the society we live in” and suggests that “coming to terms with the past has not even begun”, BIRN reports.

“The mural of Mladić does not come as a surprise, because we live in a society in which war criminals are glorified on all sides and monuments erected at various locations, victimizing the victims again,” Letić said.

The mayor of the municipality of Kalinovik, Milena Komlenović, told BIRN that no permission has been requested for the Mladić tribute.

“Nobody asked for a permit. Nobody contacted us,” Komlenović said.

Kemal Pervan, president of the Kalinovik 92 Association, which represents war victims, said the mural of Mladić was an indicator that, even though so many years have passed since the end of the war, there are still no possibilities for Bosniaks who fled because of the war to return to the Kalinovik area.

“There is no return for Bosniaks. Five families have returned so far. This [Mladić tribute] also represents a way of obstructing the return process,” Pervan said.

“I am not surprised by the mural. However, we cannot build a monument in honor of killed civilians [in Kalinovik] because the municipality does not want to give us a permit,” he added.

The former Bosnian Serb military chief’s son Darko Mladić, who lives in Belgrade, told Serbian media that his father enjoyed widespread popular support. 

Speaking about the tribute monument in Kalinovik, Darko Mladić said that it demonstrated that “we should not be ashamed of our heroes, but we should reward them for what they did for the people during those difficult years”.

The Hague Tribunal in November 2017 sentenced Mladić to life imprisonment for the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica, terrorizing the civilian population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

He was also found guilty of persecuting Bosniaks and Croats in several municipalities around the country, including Kalinovik.

Both the defense and Hague prosecutors have appealed against the verdict. The final judgment is expected to be handed down next year.

(FENA) S. R.

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