Ratko Mladić, ‘butcher of Bosnia’, dies at the Hague aged 84
Thousands of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats were murdered, tortured and displaced by armed forces under his command.
Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander infamous for orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War, passed away at the age of 84 in The Hague, according to Serbian state media. A life sentence for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide sentenced him to remain incarcerated at the United Nations tribunal.
Mladić's criminal legacy is characterized by his role as the architect of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, where his forces murdered, tortured, and displaced thousands of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, aiming to create an ethnically pure territory for Serbs. Known as the "Butcher of Bosnia", he led the Bosnian Serb army, which turned eastern Bosnia into a site of the worst crimes witnessed during the Yugoslav disintegration wars of the 1990s.
Following the end of the Bosnian War in 1995, Mladić went into hiding, evading capture for nearly 16 years. He was finally arrested by Serbian authorities in 2011 and extradited to the United Nations tribunal in 2011, receiving his life sentence in 2017. Throughout his lengthy incarceration, Mladić repeatedly attempted to have his sentence overturned, citing his advanced age and declining health.
However, the court rejected his appeals in August, and he continued to serve his life sentence at the UN detention facility until his death.
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