Minister Ivan Stoilkovic's party praises convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić
A post on the Democratic Party of Serbs’ Facebook page presents Mladić as a soldier and a general and says many Serbs will remember him as “their general”, not for The Hague and prison.
The Facebook page of the Democratic Party of Serbs, whose leader Ivan Stoilkovic serves as North Macedonia's Minister of Local Self-Government, published a post framing Ratko Mladić after his death as a soldier, a general and a man who put his life in the service of his people.
The text, shared on the party’s official page, suggests that many Serbs saw Mladić as a close protector during the hardest moments of recent history and argues that he will be remembered for that image rather than for his trial in The Hague or his time in prison.
In the post the party writes that many Serbs perceived Mladić as "their general", a figure "who was with them in the toughest moments and because of that they will remember him that way, and not by The Hague and by prison."
Who was Ratko Mladić?
Ratko Mladić was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The verdict included responsibility for the genocide in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.
The party post and its wording come as political and public debate continues over how figures linked to the wars in the former Yugoslavia are remembered across the region.
Photo: press material from the event
