Mural honouring convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic defaced in Bosnia's Bijeljina

According to unofficial information, the mural was damaged on Friday, November 6. Photographs circulating on social media show extensive damage to the artwork, with Mladic's face particularly targeted.

A hammer and sickle symbol, commonly associated with communism, was also painted next to his image.

This is not the first time the mural has been vandalised. It was originally painted in September and had previously been damaged before being restored.

According to local media reports, the mural was painted by supporters of the Partizan football club and restored in October following an earlier incident.

Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He died in August 2026.

On June 8, 2021, the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague upheld his life sentence, making his conviction final.

Among other crimes, Mladic was convicted of genocide in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in July 1995, as well as responsibility for a campaign of terror against civilians during the siege of Sarajevo.

His convictions also included persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, forcible transfer, terrorising civilians, unlawful attacks on civilians and hostage-taking.