The regional network of non-governmental organizations Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) demanded the removal of 308 murals and graffiti of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladić from the communal services of ten cities and municipalities in Serbia.
The network of non-governmental organizations reminded that communal services in Serbia “are obliged with to clean the facades of Mladić and other war criminals, as well as all other graffiti that calls for hatred, such as the letter Z,” with which expresses support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She emphasized that communal services must not be selective when cleaning public spaces, but must remove all inappropriate content on based on citizens’ applications.
According to them, out of 308 graffiti and muralsconsecrated Young manmore than 250 located on area of the capital Belgrade.
In their opinion, this shows on an organized and massive response from violent groups on their request to remove Mladić mural on corner of Njegoševa Street and Alekse Street Nenadović in Belgrade. Since 2021, this has been the scene of incidents several times, when individuals who consider Mladić a hero, violently tried to prevent non-governmental organizations from erasing mural. After it was cleaned or repainted with white paint by the non-government, strangers painted it back several times.
A network of non-governmental organizations has therefore called on the Belgrade communal services to clean graffiti dedicated to Young manin the capital they symbolically get off to a good start with these murals.
They also explained that there were a total of 308 requests for the removal of graffiti and muralsconsecrated Young manfiled on based on the information of more than 120 citizens from all over Serbia, collected during the campaign entitled Yes the truth is no longer delayed, which was carried out from September to December last year.
They also emphasized that it is on hundreds of graffiti and muralswho romanticize war or war criminals, the result of years of glorification of war criminals in the top government.
Former Commander of the General Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska Ratko Mladić was on the Croatian International War Crimes Tribunal on area of the former Yugoslavia in 2017 on life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica, the siege of Sarajevo and other crimes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. In the appeal process, the verdict was finally confirmed in 2021.
Source: Rtvslo
