'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladic dies in Hague prison hospital

Serbian military leader and war criminal Ratko Mladic has passed away in a prison hospital in The Hague, according to Serbian state broadcaster RTS. The 84-year-old had suffered several strokes in recent years. During the Yugoslav civil war that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Mladic earned the title "Butcher of Bosnia" due to his involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

He faced charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his actions during the 1992-1995 conflict that claimed 100,000 lives and displaced 2.2 million people. Mladic was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison in 2017. Prosecutors accused him of orchestrating the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia and the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, which resulted in the estimated deaths of 10,000 people, primarily civilians.

In the Srebrenica massacre, Mladic's forces were responsible for the systematic murder of 8,000 Muslim men and boys. More than 100,000 people died during the conflict, with the majority being Bosniac Muslims. Women were also victims, with an estimated 15,000 being raped under Mladic's command. After the war, Mladic went into hiding and was captured in 2011, leading to his extradition to The Hague a few days later.