UEFA Fines Red Star, Bans Away Fans

Red Star Belgrade supporters glorified convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic by chanting his name, performing military-style salutes and displaying banners during the club’s European match against Viktoria Plzen, and later unveiled another tifo honoring him before a derby against Partizan. Mladic, a Bosnian Serb commander, was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo, and died while serving a life sentence in The Hague. UEFA fined Red Star €90,000 for discriminatory conduct and messages deemed inappropriate for a sporting event, while banning the club from selling away tickets for its next European match and imposing a second suspended away-ticket ban. The incidents have drawn condemnation because Mladic remains celebrated by some Serbian supporters despite the scale of the atrocities and Red Star’s history of UEFA sanctions for fan misconduct.