Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted over the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo, has died in United Nations custody in The Hague at the age of 84.
Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 after being found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The conviction was upheld on appeal in 2021.
Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Mladić went into hiding after the Bosnian War and evaded arrest for 16 years before he was captured in rural Serbia in 2011. He was subsequently transferred to The Hague, where he was tried by the UN tribunal responsible for prosecuting crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
Mladić had been receiving palliative care at the UN detention facility in The Hague, where he had been held since 2011.
In May, a UN court in The Hague rejected a request for his release on humanitarian grounds as his health deteriorated. Although the judge acknowledged that his condition was “dire,” the court ruled that he was receiving “comprehensive and compassionate treatment” while in custody.
Mladić, who never recognised the legitimacy of the UN tribunal, commanded Bosnian Serb forces during the conflict against Bosniak and Bosnian Croat forces.
Under his command, Bosnian Serb forces were responsible for some of the most devastating atrocities of the war, including the prolonged siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre.
More than 10,000 people were killed during the siege of Sarajevo, while approximately 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica in July 1995 in what became the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.
The Srebrenica killings were subsequently recognised by international courts as genocide, while Mladić was held criminally responsible for his role in the atrocities committed during the conflict.
