“Pravac Potocari” or “Course Potocari” have been the phrases utilized by former Bosnian Serb basic Ratko Mladic as he entered Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
Mladic was referring to the close by village of Potocari, which hosted a United Nations peacekeeping base and was the preliminary gathering level for Bosniak refugees in the course of the warfare in Bosnia. Below Mladic’s command, Bosnian Serb forces dedicated a genocide towards hundreds of Bosniak males and boys within the days that adopted.
“Pravac Potocari” was additionally the slogan the followers of the Serbian soccer group Pink Star selected on Sunday to honour the so-called “butcher of Bosnia”, who died in The Hague, the Netherlands, on August 27, whereas serving a life sentence for genocide, warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity. Throughout a match towards metropolis rivals Partizan within the Serbian capital, the supporters additionally unveiled a large picture of Mladic and noticed a minute of silence in his reminiscence.
The tribute got here days after European soccer governing physique UEFA fined Pink Star a complete of 98,250 euros, or $114,100, over a banner -“Common, everlasting glory and thanks” – devoted to Mladic that was unveiled by the membership’s ultras throughout a Europa League playoff away leg in Plzen, within the Czech Republic.
The penalty included a ban on Pink Star supporters travelling to the membership’s subsequent two European away fixtures, in Lugano, Switzerland on October 15 and Ghent, Belgium on November 26.
It was not the primary time Pink Star supporters had expressed assist for Mladic throughout a European match. 9 years earlier, followers displayed related messages throughout a Europa League tie towards Belarusian membership BATE Borisov.
‘Most shameful occasion this stadium has seen’
For Slobodan Georgiev, a information director at TV Nova S in Serbia, the minute of silence at Belgrade’s Marakana stadium marked a qualitative shift somewhat than a repeat efficiency.
“Glorifying a convicted warfare felony is nothing new, however formally paying tribute to him with a minute of silence is new – and it’s essentially the most shameful occasion this stadium has witnessed,” Georgiev mentioned. “Displaying the shameful slogan ‘Pravac Potocari’ can’t be justified, although within the coming days we’ll absolutely see makes an attempt to take action.”
He positioned the show in a for much longer lineage. “For the reason that breakup of Yugoslavia, the terraces have served as a recruitment centre for paramilitary formations, and in varied types that haven’t modified to today,” he mentioned. “The worst messages have at all times travelled by means of the terraces – all the things the authorities didn’t dare say themselves, they most frequently mentioned by means of the stands, as they did … on the Pink Star–Partizan match.”
However what made Sunday’s so-called “everlasting derby” notable was not solely the Pink Star show.
Partizan’s personal hardcore supporters, the Grobari, had raised their very own banner in tribute to Mladic – studying “Common, thanks” – only a week earlier, on August 31, throughout a Serbian Tremendous Liga match towards OFK Beograd, with Mladic’s flag flying over the north stand for the total 90 minutes.
For Georgiev, the fan teams aren’t an autonomous phenomenon, however an instrument. “The state, by means of its secret providers and thru felony teams, has at all times managed these teams and used them for the worst duties: Mobilisation in warfare, crime in peacetime, and delivering the ugliest political messages,” he mentioned. “A stand that boasts it was based by Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, and that sings in reward of Ratko Mladic with out going through any authorized consequence for it, speaks for itself.”
Georgiev was referring to Arkan, the Serbian paramilitary chief whose unit dedicated atrocities in the course of the Yugoslav wars and who, earlier than his assassination in Belgrade in 2000, was intently related to Pink Star’s hardcore fan base, the Delije – a gaggle he’s broadly reported to have helped organise.
‘Clearest indication concern deeply ingrained’
Sasa Djordevic, a senior analyst on the International Initiative In opposition to Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), sees the identical continuity Georgiev described, tracing it again additional nonetheless. “The connection between soccer hooliganism, nationalism and politics in Serbia dates to the late Nineteen Eighties and have become significantly evident throughout and after the breakup of former Yugoslavia,” he mentioned. “Sure parts of the hooligan scene have since been exploited as a political ‘rent-a-mob,’ and a few group leaders have reaped advantages from political safety or enterprise alternatives.”
What worries him most now will not be the show itself, however how unremarkable it dangers turning into. “Incidents like people who occurred at Marakana final night time danger being perceived as routine somewhat than critical manifestations of hate speech,” he mentioned. “Public debate has almost vanished, and society appears more and more desensitised to violence and hate speech in stadiums. When such behaviour begins to really feel regular, it could be the clearest indication that the problem has grow to be deeply ingrained.”
Ivana Jeremic, an editor on the Balkan Perception publication, pointed to why sports activities venues serve that operate so nicely. “Stadiums have lengthy ceased to be merely sporting arenas – they’re fertile floor for sending messages that may’t be spoken publicly, or that come wrapped in a softer type,” she mentioned. “Matches involving Partizan, Pink Star, and the nationwide group stand out specifically for this.”
The political ties, she argued, are an open secret. “The political connections between the followers main the stands and people in energy are one thing of a public secret, with a variety of documented examples of direct affect. What we hear or see on the terraces may hardly occur with out some type of ‘permission’ from the authorities,” Jeremic mentioned. “In the case of Mladic, we’ve seen an increase in such messages in latest days. Pink Star’s followers, in addition to the membership itself, are at present perceived as a mouthpiece of the federal government.”
On Thursday, a Serbian authorities airplane carried Mladic’s physique from The Hague to Belgrade for burial, the place it was acquired with army honours.
From the terraces to paramilitary buildings
Djordevic traced the mechanism behind this convergence to the identical interval cited by Georgiev. “Throughout the breakup of Yugoslavia, soccer stadiums grew to become areas for nationalist mobilisation, and for some younger males the step from organised soccer violence to paramilitary buildings was brief,” he mentioned. “Hooligan teams since then domesticate loyalty, hierarchy, readiness to make use of violence and fast mobilisation to attain their extremist views that transcend strictly soccer supporter beliefs.”
That construction will not be distinctive to Serbia, however it’s significantly acute there. GI-TOC’s regional analysis examined 122 fan teams, figuring out 78 as ultras – and located 21 teams combining violent hooliganism with hyperlinks to excessive politics. “Probably the most problematic scenario was in Serbia, adopted by Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Djordevic mentioned, whereas cautioning towards overreach. “The time period ‘terrorism’ needs to be used cautiously: The proof factors to specific teams or people linked to violent extremism and paramilitary buildings, not supporter teams as a complete.”
UEFA’s disciplinary choice detailed the layers of the punishment: A 50,000-euro ($58,000) superb for transmitting a message unfit for a sporting occasion, an 8,250-euro ($9,580) superb for group misconduct, and the activation of a suspended sanction initially imposed in April 2025 over racist conduct by Pink Star followers – a suspended stadium ban now transformed right into a one-match travelling ban, conditionally prolonged for an additional two years.
However fines on paper, Djordevic mentioned, hardly ever attain the people who find themselves really liable. “The issue is that fines imposed on golf equipment don’t essentially have an effect on these chargeable for the incidents,” he mentioned. “If hooligans stay untouched, monetary penalties can grow to be merely one other value of doing enterprise somewhat than a device for altering behaviour. That doesn’t imply golf equipment don’t care. They reply when sanctions are sure, substantial, and persistently enforced, as seen extra clearly in basketball video games than in soccer.”
The hole, he argued, will not be a scarcity of guidelines. “Serbia already has a stable authorized framework,” he mentioned. “The true concern is enforcement. Sanctions must be utilized rapidly, persistently and with out exceptions, each to golf equipment and to people chargeable for violence and hate speech.”
