The mural celebrating convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, ie genocide and fascism, should be unacceptable in any European capital, city or village, said David Pettigrew, professor of philosophy and studies of the Holocaust and genocide at the University of Southern Connecticut, in an interview with Fena news agency.
Professor Pettigrew recalled that a mural of Heinrich Himmler would instantly have been condemned and removed and those responsible would be prosecuted for glorifying convicted war criminals which is seen as a form of instigation and spreading of hatred that may incite the repetition of crimes.
“That is why there are laws against such symbols and murals in most European countries, including the Criminal Code of BiH,” Pettigrew added.
Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin’s defence of the mural with heavily armed intervention police is in fact the defence of his perverse and very dangerous fantasy about the “Serb world,” the eminent American professor reiterated.
“By defending the mural, Vulin supports the crimes Ratko Mladic committed with the intention of creating a ‘Greater Serbia’ with the Republika Srpska entity. Mladic wrote to Milosevic, thanking him for his ‘invaluable help,’ stating that this would not have been possible without his support,” Pettigrew recalled.
He also recalled the recent verdicts of the Trial Chamber in the Stanisic and Simatovic case, which established the existence of a “joint criminal enterprise” in which “senior political, military and police leaders in Serbia” participated.
At the same time, the professor noted that Ratko Mladic's mural at the entrance to Kalinovik, a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be removed because it violates the state criminal law, prohibiting the glorification of convicted war criminals.
“Mladic’s mural is also a form of incitement to hatred and incitement to repeat crimes, so it should be removed. I express my deep gratitude to the courage of activists in Belgrade to resist the glorification of genocide, to defend the truth and respect the memory of the victims,” David Pettigrew, professor of philosophy and study of the Holocaust and genocide at the University of Southern Connecticut concluded.
Ratko Mladic's mural, which caused riots in the streets of Belgrade until late Tuesday night when police intervened and separated conflicting groups of citizens, was destroyed on Wednesday. It was destroyed by Djordjo Zujovic, a longtime activist and member of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS), led by Rasim Ljajic.
Several hundred citizens gathered in Belgrade, on Tuesday night, for a rally in support of human rights activist Aida Corovic, who was detained earlier after throwing eggs at a mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic that local NGOs intended to paint over, but police had previously banned them from doing so.
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