Serbia media criticized for hosting convicted war criminals

Reports indicate that convicted war criminals in Serbia continue to receive significant media platforms to interpret the past and current political events, often being presented as respected citizens. According to the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), mainstream pro-government media outlets frequently provide space to individuals such as Vojislav Šešelj, who was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes including deportation and forcible transfer.

Despite instances of hate speech and the relativization of crimes committed during the 1990s, regulatory bodies like the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) and the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications have been noted for their lack of sanctions or response. The YIHR publication, ‘State of Denial – Serbia 2025: War Criminals as Deserving Citizens’, highlights that the presence of these figures in public discourse, supported by state institutions, serves as a primary driver for the denial and relativization of wartime atrocities.