The monstrous crimes of Ratko Mladić, the 'Butcher of Bosnia'

Ratko Mladić, who passed away at 84, was known as the Butcher of Bosnia. As commander of the Bosnian Serb army, he orchestrated a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing during the 1990s split of Yugoslavia. His goal was to fulfill the historic destiny of Greater Serbia, which led to the bloodiest atrocities in Europe since Hitler's Third Reich.

Mladić was born in 1942 near Sarajevo and joined the military after his father was killed fighting for Tito's partisans. After graduating from officer school in 1965, he quickly rose through the ranks, displaying a single-minded determination and studied brutality in his pursuit of Greater Serbia. He gained a reputation for courage bordering on recklessness, often leading expeditions in frontline trenches.

As the war intensified in Bosnia, Mladić switched his troops' uniforms and pledged support for the breakaway Republika Srpska, viewing the Muslim population as invaders. The siege of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days, the longest city siege in modern warfare, during which 13,000 people were killed. In Srebrenica, Mladić promised the UN-declared safe area was secure, but later ordered the murder of 8,000 Bosniak males, the most heinous act on European soil since World War Two.