Victimising Ratko Mladić by portraying international justice as biased

What it claims

The convicted Ratko Mladić is portrayed as a patriot and defender of Serbs whom the West turned into a criminal. His case is reduced to an example of one-sided international justice. War crimes and the suffering of other victims of the conflict are pushed aside in order to set a “Serbian tragedy” against Western media and courts.

Target audience

Examples (paraphrased)

We paraphrase rather than quote: propaganda's exact wording is built to spread, so we carry the claim and not the craft.

• Mladić was turned into an international criminal even though he defended Serbs, while the West plays down Serbian suffering.

  Rybar (German), 27 Aug 2026

  t.me/rybardeu/6540

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Goal

To deepen suspicion of international courts and Western media among distrustful and national-conservative people in Germany by presenting convictions for war crimes as the persecution of patriots.

Techniques used

• Black-and-White Fallacy / DictatorshipMladić’s case is depicted as a choice between loyalty to Serbs and submission to a “Western” version of justice, leaving no room for accountability for crimes.
• Loaded LanguageThe convicted man is labelled a “patriot” and “defender”, while the international proceedings are framed as a one-sided attack on Serbs.

The real grievance it exploits

For people in Germany who already distrust international institutions, this framing draws on concerns about double standards. The post itself names no specific German grievance; it relies instead on Serbian memories of war and loss.

How to counter

• Technique exposure: Equating a defendant’s ethnic identity with allegedly biased justice replaces scrutiny of specific crimes with a collective grievance. Check which court findings are omitted and whether independent sources are provided rather than emotional labels.
• Fact-check: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Mladić guilty, including of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; his life sentence remained in force after appeal. Describing this solely as punishment of a “patriot” removes the substance of the court’s findings.

Sources (all time)

• Rybar (German)Tier 32,261 subscribers
  1 post · 27 Aug 2026

  • 27 Aug · t.me/rybardeu/6540