Mural of Ratko Mladic in Belgrade. Photo: EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC
A Croatian court has handed a suspended prison sentence to a Bosnian national found guilty of glorifying the late convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic.
Police from the Korenica Border Police Station announced on Tuesday that they had filed a misdemeanour charge against a 43-year-old over social media posts in which he glorified Mladic. According to police, the man posted photos, symbols, songs and texts on social media that “publicly honoured and expressed gratitude to a person convicted of war crimes”.
Mladic was convicted by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He died aged 84 in a UN jail in The Hague on August 26.
In the posts, among other things, the man
In the posts, among other things, the man thanked Mladic for “freedom” and said “he will never be forgotten”. The police stated that such content caused agitation and distress among citizens and so constituted an offence under the Law on Misdemeanours Against Public Order and Peace.
Following an investigation, the 43-year-old was brought before a court, which sentenced him to 15 days in prison but suspended the sentence.
The man had been living in Korenica as a foreign worker with a temporary residence permit.
Such cases are not uncommon in Croatia.
On August 28, police arrested 31-year-old Serbian influencer,
On August 28, police arrested 31-year-old Serbian influencer, Marko Stojkovic, in Split after he displayed tattoos depicting Draza Mihailovic, a Serbian World War II collaborator with the Nazis who is considered a war criminal in Croatia. He was charged with disturbing public order and peace as well as violating the Anti-Discrimination Act.
“By publicly displaying several inappropriate images tattooed on his body, he disturbed public order and peace and, with the aim of causing fear and creating a hostile and humiliating environment, violated human dignity and caused public unrest,” Split police announced, adding that his behaviour also violated the Anti-Discrimination Act.
The court sentenced Stojković to 15 days in prison. Following the conclusion of the proceedings, he will be expelled from Croatia and banned from re-entering the country for the next five years.
Source: balkaninsight.com
