The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) filed requests for the removal of murals and graffiti portraying and supporting Bosnian Serb war-time military chief Ratko Mladic in 10 towns and cities across Serbia.

A press release from that regional NGO network said that local communal services are obliged to remove images of Mladic and other convicted war criminals and other hate-based graffiti including the Z which shows support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It said that 308 requests were filed based on reports from local people during the mural mapping campaign the NGO network conducted between September and December 2022.

According to YIHR, more than 250 of the 308 mapped murals and graffiti are in Belgrade. It called the Vracar municipality communal services to remove the mural of Mladic in Njegoseva street which was the focal point for anti- and pro-Mladic gatherings by civil society organizations and right-wing groups.

YIHR said that the hundreds of murals and graffiti romanticizing war and war criminals are the result of the fact that top state leaders have glorified war criminals for years.