Srebrenica Reports Red Star to FSS Over Mladic Photo

The north stand at the Marakana was waiting for a single signal before the eternal derby kicked off. When it came, a giant photo of Ratko Mladic unfolded across the stand, with the words “Pravac Potocari” (Direction: Potocari) beneath it, while the stadium announcer called for a minute of silence with the words “eternal glory and gratitude to him.” All of that happened before the 180th Belgrade derby between Red Star and Partizan at Rajko Mitic Stadium, and that scene landed today, September 7, on the desk of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS) in the form of a formal complaint.

The complaint comes from the Memorial Center Srebrenica-Potocari, the Bosnian institution that tracks every fresh instance of Ratko Mladic being glorified in Serbian football. It asks the FSS to open a disciplinary proceeding against Red Star without delay, on its own initiative, and, if wrongdoing is established, against the people responsible inside the club as well. The deadline the center sets for a reply is short: seven days from receipt, after which the file moves on to UEFA.

What the complaint says

The Memorial Center cites Article 82 of the FSS Disciplinary Code, which covers damage to public reputation and extremist messaging. It asks for specific answers, not general ones:

• who authorized the minute of silence and the message over the public address system
• whether the club knew about the north stand’s choreography in advance
• whether there was any content screening at the stadium entrance
• whether footage, security reports and the match delegate’s report exist

All of that, the center says, should be part of the file before the FSS decides on any sanction. Among the possible penalties it lists are a stadium closure and a points deduction, measures that would hit Red Star directly in the standings, not just in the club’s finances.

Not the first time this season

This is not the first round between the Memorial Center and the club from the Marakana. In late August, after a 1-5 loss to Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League, the same institution filed a complaint with UEFA over a banner reading “General, great glory and gratitude,” demanding Red Star’s permanent expulsion from European competitions. It is now folding that case into the same file, arguing that photos from both matches on the club’s official social media channels show a pattern of behavior, not an isolated incident involving fans.

The complaint to the FSS puts that argument in its sharpest terms:

“A football club may claim that it cannot have absolute control over every spontaneous act of thousands of spectators. However, that argument does not apply when the club itself subsequently selects, publishes, reposts, endorses or glorifies the disputed material through an official communication channel under its own control.”

The issue, in other words, is not only what happened on the stand but also who shared photos of the choreography afterward, from the club’s own account.

Seven days, then UEFA

The Memorial Center is asking for written confirmation that the complaint was received within seven days, along with a case number and the name of the responsible body within the FSS. If that does not happen, or if disciplinary proceedings fail to follow, the file moves forward under Article 29(4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations, which covers cases where a national federation fails to prosecute a serious violation or handles it inadequately.

The complaint’s closing paragraph leaves little room for interpretation:

“This complaint is not a matter of rivalry between football clubs, fan provocation or ordinary political expression. The words ‘Pravac Potocari’ (Direction: Potocari), when deliberately displayed beneath a photo of Ratko Mladic, cannot be separated from the crimes that followed those words in July 1995.”

The derby itself already cost Red Star on the pitch, not just in its file with the FSS. Nemanja Krunic was injured in the match and will be sidelined for around four weeks. Now comes the paperwork, and under this complaint it could end up dragging on far longer than that injury.