Death does not erase the verdict — or the responsibility of officials who turn a convicted war criminal into a hero Originally published on Global Voices Bardhyl Jashari, executive director of Metamorphosis Foundation. Photo in a private archive, used with permission. This article by Bardhyl Jashari was first published in Albanian on portalb.mk on August 31, 2026. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and the Metamorphosis Foundation . Death does not erase the verdict. When a war criminal is placed on a pedestal by government officials, it undermines the dignity of the victims, weakens the rule of law, harms the very idea of North Macedonia as a multiethnic society, and compromises the country’s European vision. In the year when North Macedonia marks 35 years of independence , we should have understood by now that a state is not built by glorifying war criminals. The death of Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992–95 Bosnian War , does not change the truth about him: he was neither a war hero nor a victim of The Hague, but a war criminal sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and other serious crimes. He died this August 27 , while serving a life sentence. In 2017, he was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the verdict was upheld on appeal in 2021. The charges stemmed from the genocide in Srebrenica, persecution, extermination, murder, deportation and forcible transfer, terror and unlawful attacks against civilians in Sarajevo, as well as the taking of UN personnel hostage. His crimes were monstrous, which is why he was dubbed the “ Butcher of the Balkans .” These are not merely political or emotional characterizations, and his guilt is not a matter of personal opinion. Responsibility for genocide and war crimes was established by a judgment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals ( IRMCT ) at The Hague. Gravestones at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial , commemorating 8,372 Bosniak Muslim victims of a massacre committed by Bosnian Serb forces under the command of Ratko Mladić in 1995. Photo by Michael Büker, via Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ). That is why the way some media outlets reported his death to the public is also unacceptable. Writing that he died in The Hague, listing his illnesses and the calls for his release , while failing to clearly explain why he was there , is not neutral reporting. It creates a false biography in which the uniform and military ranks remain, while the victims and crimes disappear. Even more concerning is that the glorification was not limited to comments from citizens. The Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, led by Minister of Local Self-Government Ivan Stoilković , portrayed Mladić as a general who served the army and the people, suggesting that many people would remember him “not because of The Hague.” Screenshot of Instagram post by Dalibor Kitanović, director of the state Agency for Exercising the Rights of Communities of Republic of North Macedonia, featuring convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić and WWII war criminal and Nazi collaborator Draža Mihailović, who was controversially rehabilitated in 2015 , alongside historic Serbian military leaders and text: ‘For the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom: Generals of the Heavenly Army’, published August 28, and later deleted. Meanwhile, Dalibor Kitanović, director of the Agency for Exercising the Rights of Communities , published a photomontage placing Mladić among the “generals of the heavenly army.” These are not neutral expressions of grief. They elevate a convicted war criminal to the status of a national hero. When a regular citizen does something like this, one might say that we have a societal problem in which empathy is lacking, the crime of genocide is being minimized and relativized, and there is interethnic intolerance, hatred, and so on. But when a public official does this, it becomes an institutional and political scandal, because the message is coming from representatives of the state. It is particularly troubling that this is being done by the head of an institution whose mission, by definition, should be to ensure equal access, respect for differences, and the advancement of the rights of all communities. Macedonia is home to several ethnic and religious communities. For ethnic Bosniak citizens who live here, Srebrenica is not some distant historical event. Glorifying a man convicted of genocide against Bosniaks sends them a message that their pain and dignity matter less. This is a direct blow to interethnic trust and social cohesion, which remains fragile even without such provocations. What also needs to be emphasized is that condemning Mladić does not represent a stance against the Serbian people. On the contrary, it is a rejection of the attempt to identify an entire people with the crimes of one individual and the ideology that caused them. Criminal responsibility is individual, while respect for victims should be universal. Glorifying, denying or minimizing genocide and war crimes is not only morally unacceptable but may also constitute a criminal offence under the law. Article 407-a of the Criminal Code provides for criminal liability for publicly denying, grossly minimizing, approving of or justifying genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including when this is done through information systems. Whether the specific posts meet all the elements of a criminal offence should be determined by the prosecutor’s office and the court, institutions which have an obligation to examine the case and determine whether there are grounds for criminal liability, rather than simply ignoring it. However, political and moral responsibility is a separate matter and should not have to wait for the conclusion of judicial proceedings. The resignation or dismissal of a public official can be sought as soon as their conduct is deemed incompatible with the public office they hold, regardless of whether criminal liability is subsequently established. Many political parties, including the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( SDSM ), Democratic Union for Integration ( DUI) , the Party of Democratic Action of Macedonia ( SDA ) and the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP ), condemned the glorification and called for accountability. The VLEN coalition , one of the main ethnic Albanian political blocs in North Macedonia and a junior partner in the VMRO-DPMNE-led government, also reacted . However, their response should be assessed differently, because VLEN is part of the government and shares power with the political entities and officials who glorified the war criminal. Although VLEN in principle condemned the glorification of Ratko Mladić and called for “immediate accountability,” it did not mention either Dalibor Kitanović or the Agency for Exercising the Rights of Communities, which he heads. It also did not directly address the statement by the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, led by Minister Ivan Stoilković, who is VLEN’s partner in the governing coalition. A condemnation that does not clearly identify who should be held accountable remains incomplete and allows governing partners to hide behind general statements. Ruling party VMRO-DPMNE initially remained silent. On August 30, it stated that the government’s position is based on internationally established legal facts and that officials who supported Mladić should either withdraw their statements or step down from office. However, this reaction is also lukewarm: those responsible are not named, their dismissal is not called for, and the responsibility of Minister Stoilković and the party he leads, which is part of the government, is not addressed directly. In the meantime, Kitanović was effectively given the opportunity to delete or withdraw his post and continue to head the agency. But deleting a post does not erase the views expressed or the disappointment and harm they caused. On July 16, just six weeks before these events, North Macedonia officially endorsed the European Union’s declaration at the OSCE , which states that there is no place in Europe for genocide denial, revisionism, or the glorification of convicted war criminals. Understandably, the posts by some officials do not stop or obstruct North Macedonia’s EU integration process. However, tolerating such views by representatives of the government undermines the credibility of the candidate country and shows that European values are embraced in declarations, but not necessarily in practice. Macedonia cannot condemn the glorification of war criminals at international forums while tolerating the same conduct by its own officials at home. Ratko Mladić is dead. But the ideology that turns a war criminal into a hero remains alive whenever such glorification is tolerated for various party or other interests. The government must clearly show that it chooses the side of the victims, respects the law, and protects our shared future, even when this requires holding its own officials and coalition partners accountable. Without respect for the dignity of every citizen, there can be no social cohesion. Without accepting the truth, there can be no reconciliation. And a state that tolerates the glorification of war criminals cannot claim to be building a European future. Bardhyl Jashari is the executive director of Metamorphosis Foundation . Written by Bardhyl Jashari