Supporters of Red Star Belgrade displayed a large tifo depicting Ratko Mladic prior to their domestic league fixture against Partizan Belgrade on Sunday. The controversial visual tribute appeared in the stadium stands shortly before the high-profile encounter commenced in the Serbian top flight.

Mladic, a former military leader convicted of severe atrocities, passed away inside a United Nations detention facility in August. In 2017, an international tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

During the conflicts across the former Yugoslavia in the first half of the 1990s, Mladic commanded forces that carried out systematic campaigns against non-Serb populations in Bosnia-Herzegovina. His actions included orchestrating the siege of Sarajevo, which claimed over 10,000 lives, and directing the 1995 massacre of approximately 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica.

European football governing bodies have previously penalized the Belgrade club over similar supporter behavior. Earlier in the current campaign, UEFA issued a financial penalty of 90,000 euros after fans displayed a banner honoring Mladic during a continental fixture against Czech opponents FC Viktoria Plzen.

Following Sunday's display, official digital channels for Red Star posted footage capturing the stadium tifo alongside a moment of silence observed by both clubs, accompanied by a saluting emoji. This publication drew an immediate public reaction, including an obscene reply from the verified account representing the national football team of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Despite his international condemnation and decades evading capture before his eventual arrest at a rural property, Mladic retains considerable domestic support among nationalist factions. Thousands of mourners attended memorial gatherings and a church funeral held in the Serbian capital on Monday.

On the pitch, the match concluded with a victory for the hosts as Red Star secured a 2-1 triumph over their fierce city rivals. The sporting result, however, was quickly overshadowed by the ongoing controversy surrounding the stadium display and the polarized reactions it provoked across the region.

Reporting based on coverage first published by BBC Sport. Read the original report at BBC Sport.