Red Star Belgrade fans made headlines on Sunday night when they unveiled a tifo depicting war criminal Ratko Mladic before their derby match against Partizan Belgrade. This display occurred just before Red Star's victory in the match.

Mladic, who passed away in a United Nations prison in August, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. His actions during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, particularly the systematic killing of the non-Serb population of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, are well-documented. Notably, he oversaw the tragic Srebrenica massacre, where 8,000 men and boys were murdered, and he was also involved in the siege of Sarajevo, which resulted in over 10,000 deaths.

This is not the first time Red Star has faced backlash for honoring Mladic; they were fined 90,000 euros (£77,000) by Uefa earlier this season after fans displayed a banner commemorating him during a Europa League play-off against FC Viktoria Plzen.

In a controversial move, Red Star's social media accounts shared a video of the tifo along with a minute's silence for Mladic, which provoked a strong reaction, including an obscenity from the official account of Bosnia-Herzegovina's national team.

Mladic, initially protected by Serb president Slobodan Milosevic, who later died while on trial for genocide, spent over a decade evading capture before being found hiding in a remote farmhouse.