{
  "id": 6635518,
  "title": "Ratko Mladić: the war criminal who became a martyr for Bosnian Serbs",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/10/ratko-mladic-the-war-criminal-who-became-a-martyr-for-bosnian-serbs",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-10T20:17:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation AU",
    "slug": "the-conversation-au",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/ratko-mladic-the-war-criminal-who-became-a-martyr-for-bosnian-serbs-291553"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ratko Mladić, once known as \"The Butcher of Bosnia,\" was a Serbian military commander in the Bosnian War of the 1990s. He was responsible for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which claimed the lives of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys. After being convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Mladić spent his final days in The Hague, serving a life sentence. Upon his death, he was given a state funeral in Serbia, drawing thousands of mourners. This elicited outrage from the families of the victims and the European Union. Olivera Simic, a 19-year-old during the war and now an international law professor, found it challenging to witness the public mourning of a convicted war criminal. She believes that for many Serbs and Bosnian Serbs, Mladić is still viewed as a martyr who fought for Serbian people during the war. This normalization of Mladić's image as a war hero, rather than focusing on the trial evidence, concerns Simic, especially for younger generations who have grown up with this pop culture narrative. The death of Mladić has reignited old wounds in Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrating the ongoing division and inability to confront the past and take responsibility for the events of the 1990s.",
  "summary": "Listen to international law expert on The Conversation Weekly podcast explain why some Serbs revered convicted war ciminal Ratko Mladić.",
  "key_points": [
    "Ratko Mladić orchestrated 1995 Srebrenica massacre, killing over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.",
    "Convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Mladić served life sentence at The Hague."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}