On December 10, 2024, the Cultural Institution Ćuprija announced a competition for a mural dedicated to Pavković, explaining that “the proposals for the mural, focused on the character and deeds of General Pavković, originally from the Ćuprija area, should highlight his national significance, his actions, and his importance to contemporary national history.” According to the competition’s guidelines, the mural will be seven meters long and six meters wide. On February 6, 2025, the Cultural Institution Ćuprija announced that the winning design, created by Marija Komarac, had been selected, with a prize of 330,000 dinars (net).
Given that Pavković was convicted of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence, we have valid concerns that the Cultural Institution Ćuprija, by announcing this competition, may have violated the Law on the Prohibition of Neo-Nazi and Fascist Symbols. Moreover, this act may constitute a serious form of discrimination under the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. Article 4 of the Law on the Prohibition of Neo-Nazi and Fascist Symbols prohibits the production, reproduction, storage, display, dissemination, or any other use of symbols that promote or justify the actions of individuals convicted for war crimes. Meanwhile, the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination considers the promotion of ethnic cleansing as a severe form of discrimination under Article 13.
Furthermore, by allowing such a competition, Serbia’s institutions are in violation of the Law on Cooperation of Serbia and Montenegro with the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991. This law, in Article 1, paragraph 2, mandates that the official authorities in Belgrade respect ICTY rulings. Presenting war criminals as heroes—such as in the case of the Pavković mural—is not in line with the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes (2021-2026). It is also contrary to Serbia’s obligations under transitional benchmark 21 for Chapter 23 in EU accession negotiations, which requires full acceptance and application of ICTY and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) rulings.
We believe that public funding for a mural dedicated to a war criminal, convicted for crimes such as the forced displacement and deportation of Kosovo Albanians, continues the troubling practice of glorifying individuals responsible for mass human rights violations. This misrepresents them as role models for future generations. Therefore, this practice is incompatible with the idea of building good neighborly relations in the region of Western Balkans.
Pavković is one of several war criminals from the 1990s whom the Serbian authorities continue to celebrate as heroes, despite the final court ruling that confirmed his responsibility as the former commander of the Third Army of the Yugoslav Army during the Kosovo war. In April 2023, Pavković participated via Skype from prison in a class at the “Đura Jakšić” primary school in Kać, where he was addressed by the then-mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Đurić, and the school principal, Verica Letić, during a public lesson dedicated to the Battle of Košare. Despite an inspection of the school requested by YIHR, the provincial inspection of the Ministry of Education failed to sanction those responsible for promoting a war criminal within the educational institution. In 2024, the Ministry of Defense organized several events in which Pavković’s crimes were denied, and at one such event, in September 2024, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, stated that Pavković’s sentence was “revenge by NATO for heroic resistance.”
The Cultural Institution Ćuprija has an obligation to use public space and budgetary funds to promote cultural creativity—not to glorify a convicted war criminal. Therefore, the only logical and justifiable course of action in any democratic society that respects the rule of law is the cancellation of this competition and the dismissal of Director Stamenković.
