Bosnian Serb commander and war criminal Ratko Mladic dies in prison

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander and war criminal, has passed away in prison, according to Serbian state broadcaster RTS. Dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Mladic was 84 years old when he died. Serving a life sentence at The Hague for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, Mladic oversaw the Srebrenica slaughter, which is considered Europe's worst act of bloodshed since World War II.

Mladic, along with ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, formed a brutal trio that unleashed a wave of ethnic killing during the 1992-95 war. The conflict resulted in approximately 100,000 deaths and the displacement of 2.2 million people. The Srebrenica massacre, where Serb forces under Mladic's command executed 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, was particularly infamous.

Despite being reviled by many, including former UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, who described him as "the epitome of evil," Mladic had a following among Serbs who revered him as a defender of his people. Mladic's reputation as a military leader and defender of his community was immortalized in murals across Republika Srpska, the Serbian entity within Bosnia.