Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 19/12/2025; Author: Nerma Šehović
What is the claim?
Ratko Mladić will soon be released from prison.
What are the facts?
The most recent request by Mladić’s defense for early release was rejected in early December 2025.
On 12 December 2025, the Facebook page “Pozitivnasrpska.com” published an image stating that Ratko Mladić would soon be released.
The post included a link to an article published on the website called Pozitivna Srpska under the headline “Russians Officially Begin Efforts to Save Ratko Mladić”. The article reports on requests by Russia’s mission to the United Nations to close the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and to allow Ratko Mladić either to continue serving his sentence in Serbia or to be released early on humanitarian grounds.
What are the Facts?
The December 2025 post is not the first on the Facebook page “Pozitivnasrpska.com” to announce the release of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Identical or similar claims were shared in June, October, and November 2025.
Ratko Mladić is a former general of the Army of Republika Srpska who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017 (upheld on appeal in 2021) for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. In recent years, Mladić’s defense team has repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, requested his early release due to his deteriorating health or other personal reasons (1, 2, 3). The most recent request was rejected in early December 2025, following an appeal.
The article published on the website Pozitivna Srpska on 12 December, and shared on Facebook with the claim that “Mladić will soon be released”, was taken from the Russian website Sputnik. The article includes statements by Maria Zabolotskaya, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, who said that Mladić should be released due to his serious health condition. Her statement was also reported by other media outlets, but without claims that Mladić would be “released soon”.
The Facebook page “Pozitivnasrpska.com” was created in 2021 and has around 30,000 followers. It is linked to an anonymous website of the same name that does not provide an impressum or information about ownership, editorial staff, or newsroom structure. Raskrinkavanje has previously written on multiple occasions about inaccurate claims published on this Facebook page and website. As emphasized in an analysis available here, the publication of disturbing and often fabricated news is clearly part of their “business model” aimed at attracting clicks and generating profit.
Based on the facts, we rate the December 2025 Facebook post claiming that Ratko Mladić will soon be released as fake news.
