Employee of Bosnia's Human Rights Ministry Posts AI-Generated Image Glorifying War Criminal
A senior official at Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees posted an AI-generated image that resembled convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić on Facebook with text glorifying him, prompting an investigation by the ministry's Ethical Commission. The ministry stated that glorifying war criminals is unacceptable and that the matter will be handled in accordance with the law.
What happened
Vedrana Krajišnik Ćosović, a senior professional associate in the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, posted an AI-generated image on Facebook that resembled the deceased war criminal Ratko Mladić with the caption 'Zemaljsko je za maleno carstvo, a nebesko uvijek i dovijeka!!!' (Earthly is for a small kingdom, celestial forever and ever).
The image was posted after Mladić's death on 27 August in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes.
Reported impact
The ministry stated that glorifying, denying or justifying war crimes, and glorifying persons convicted of war crimes, is unacceptable and must be subject to proceedings by competent institutions in accordance with the law.
Index analysis
The Ethical Commission of the Ministry has opened a formal investigation into the incident and is considering all relevant facts and circumstances in accordance with existing regulations and internal procedures.
Governance controls
The Ministry stated it will act exclusively on the basis of established facts and in accordance with the law, including provisions of Article 145a of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.