Ratko Mladic, a war criminal convicted over the first genocide on European soil since World War II, has died in prison in The Hague at the age of 84, the UN tribunal confirmed.
Earlier this year, Serbia requested that Mladic be allowed to receive medical treatment outside prison, citing his 'serious' health condition and need for 'serious medical treatment.' The UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals stated that Mladic was receiving adequate medical care while in detention.
Known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia,' Mladic was one of the most notorious military commanders of the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. International courts convicted him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, sentencing him to life in prison.
The most infamous part of his criminal legacy is linked to the genocide in Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Serbia. Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic's command seized Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the UN declaring the municipality a 'safe area.' After the enclave fell, more than 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were killed by Mladic's forces in the days that followed.
Some civilians were captured and executed at locations in and around Srebrenica, while others were killed while attempting to flee through forests toward territory controlled by the army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bodies of victims were later discovered in numerous mass graves, with many identified years after the war. The remains of around 1,000 victims are still being sought. International courts established that the killings constituted genocide.
Srebrenica has remained a symbol of one of the gravest crimes committed in Europe since World War II. Mladic was born in the village of Bozanovici near Kalinovik, about 40km (25 miles) south of Sarajevo. He began his military career in the Yugoslav People's Army and gradually rose through the command structure.
When Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in the spring of 1992, Bosnian Serbs established their own political and military structures and proclaimed Republika Srpska, controlling territory covering roughly half of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In May 1992, Mladic was appointed commander of the Republika Srpska's army. Over the next three and a half years, he sought to seize parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by the army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the capital Sarajevo, devastating areas in his path.
Mladic's forces were involved in a large number of atrocities across Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to the Srebrenica genocide, international courts found Mladic responsible for a campaign of terror against Sarajevo's civilian population, the hostage-taking of UN peacekeepers, and other crimes. Sarajevo was surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces for almost 44 months, with shelling and sniper attacks from the surrounding hills. More than 11,500 people from all ethnic groups were killed, with many others wounded or displaced.
After the war ended in 1995, Mladic evaded arrest and spent almost 16 years in hiding, becoming one of Europe's most wanted fugitives accused of war crimes. He was arrested in Serbia in May 2011 in the village of Lazarevo, near Zrenjanin, at the home of a relative. Several days later, he was transferred to The Hague, where his trial began before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His arrest was one of the key conditions set by the international community for Serbia's progress towards closer relations with the European Union.
In 2017, the tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment, establishing his individual criminal responsibility for a number of crimes. Although his convictions were final, Mladic continues to have support among sections of the Serbian public and political circles in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Banja Luka, Belgrade, and other areas with predominantly Serb populations, murals depicting him can still be seen, with some portraying him as a military hero rather than a convicted war criminal.
That attitude towards Mladic is part of a broader problem of confronting the legacy of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While international courts have established facts concerning the genocide and other crimes, political and social divisions over the country's wartime past remain deeply entrenched. Denial of the Srebrenica genocide and the glorification of convicted war criminals remain serious problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to data from the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, 149 cases of public denial of the Srebrenica genocide were recorded during the first quarter of 2026, including statements by public figures, an increase from 99 cases in 2025.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in May 2024 establishing July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. The resolution was intended to preserve the memory of the victims and promote a culture of remembrance, while also reaffirming the importance of confronting genocide denial and preventing the recurrence of such crimes.
Source: www.aljazeera.com