Editing Graffiti (section)

=== Genocide denial ===
{{Undue weight|date=December 2023}}
In the [[Serbia]]n capital, [[Belgrade]], the graffiti depicting a uniformed former [[General officer|general]] of [[Army of Republika Srpska|Serb army]] and [[War Criminal|war criminal]], convicted at [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including [[Bosnian genocide|genocide]] and [[Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War|ethnic cleansing]] in [[Bosnian War]], [[Ratko Mladić]], appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thanks to your mother".<ref name="rferl.org">{{cite web |author1=Nevena Bogdanović |author2=Predrag Urošević |author3=Andy Heil |title=Graffiti War: Battle In The Streets Over Ratko Mladic Mural |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-mladic-mural-protests/31555357.html |website=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty |access-date=28 August 2022 |language=en |location=Belgrade |date=November 10, 2021}}</ref> 
Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past".<ref name="calvertjournal.com-Eror">{{cite web |author1=Aleks Eror |title=How Serbian street art is using the past to shape the future |url=https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/13353/ratko-mladic-mural-belgrade-serbia-are-revision-history-shape-future |website=The Calvert Journal |access-date=28 August 2022 |language=en |date=14 December 2021}}</ref> In a long expose on the subject of [[Bosnian genocide denial]], at [[Balkan Diskurs]] magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which youths are being exposed to the celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".<ref name="balkandiskurs.com">{{cite web |author1=Taylor Whitsell |author2=Kristina Gadže |title=New Generations Still Follow in a War Criminal's Footsteps |url=https://balkandiskurs.com/en/2021/12/15/new-generations-still-follow-in-a-war-criminals-footsteps/ |website=Balkan Diskurs |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Belgrade |language=en |date=15 December 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Mural u Baru, prikaz ratnog zločinca Ratka Mladića.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Mural in [[Bar, Montenegro]], depicting the war criminal [[Ratko Mladić]]]]
There are examples of genocide denial through the celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans, inhabited by Serbs, using graffiti. Several of these are found in the Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave.<ref name="calvertjournal.com-Eror"/><ref name="ba.boell.org-Druško">{{cite web |author1=Dženana Karup-Druško |author1-link= |title=Denying genocide and celebrating war criminals may only be stopped by the adoption of a law that sanctions the actions |url=https://ba.boell.org/en/2019/05/16/denying-genocide-and-celebrating-war-criminals-may-only-be-stopped-adoption-law-sanctions |website=Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Sarajevo |language=en |date=16 May 2019}}</ref> Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Serbia)|Interior Minister of Serbia]], [[Aleksandar Vulin]] decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement".<ref name="rferl.org"/><ref name="europeanwesternbalkans.com-Popović"/> Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with the graffiti creators and their supporters,<ref name="balkandiskurs.com"/> blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the [[International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism]] in that way,<ref name="rferl.org"/> and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.<ref name="europeanwesternbalkans.com-Popović">{{cite web |author1=Sofija Popović |title=The case of Mladić mural shows that authorities in Serbia have no intention to deal with war crimes |url=https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2021/11/12/the-case-of-mladic-mural-shows-that-authorities-in-serbia-have-no-intention-to-deal-with-war-crimes/ |website=European Western Balkans |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Belgrade |date=12 November 2021}}</ref>