Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general whose name became synonymous with atrocities during the 1992-95 Bosnia war and who was serving a life sentence for genocide, has died at age 84 in the United Nations detention centre in The Hague, a UN official said.
Serbia’s state broadcaster reported that Mladic — widely labelled the “Butcher of Bosnia” — died in a prison hospital after suffering several strokes.
Mladic’s conviction had been upheld after years of legal proceedings. In 2021, the United Nations tribunal in The Hague rejected his appeal against the life term imposed in 2017 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the conflict.
Once one of the most-wanted figures from the war, Mladic spent a decade evading capture before he was arrested in 2011. He was seen as the military embodiment of a hardline leadership trio, alongside ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who steered the political project behind the campaign.
Ratko Mladic (C) pictured as he arrived at the airport of Sarajevo on 10 August 1993
The tribunal found Mladic guilty of genocide for personally overseeing the killings of 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica, an enclave that had been presented as protected by the United Nations, during a wider effort to expel Muslims.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced support for those harmed by Mladic’s crimes.
“The secretary-general stands in solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families who suffered the crimes for which Mr Mladic was found guilty,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
