Ratko Mladić, Known as ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, Dies at 84

Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb general who led forces responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo, has died at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence.

Mladić died on Thursday at the UN Detention Unit in The Hague after spending more than 15 years in prison.

His lawyers had requested his early release on humanitarian grounds last week. They said doctors had warned that his “overall condition has rapidly declined” and that his death “may occur at any time.” The request was rejected.

Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Mladić was convicted in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of genocide, crimes against humanity, persecution, extermination, murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians and hostage-taking.

The UN-backed court found him responsible for a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Bosnia’s non-Serb population during the Bosnian war.

The siege of Sarajevo began in 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces under Mladić’s command surrounded the city. Residents faced years of shelling and sniper attacks, with more than 10,000 people killed, including many children.

In July 1995, Mladić led an attack on Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave that had been declared a UN “safe place”. More than 7,000 Muslims, mostly men and boys, were killed within several days.

ICTY judge Fouad Riad described the Srebrenica massacre as “truly scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history.” He had earlier described the crimes linked to Mladić as “unimaginable savagery.”

Mladić was indicted by the tribunal in November 1995 but remained a fugitive for 16 years. He initially lived in Belgrade under the protection of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

After Milosevic was arrested in 2001, Mladić went into hiding and avoided arrest for another decade. He was finally captured in Serbia in May 2011 and extradited to The Hague.

His trial lasted more than four years and was one of the final major cases handled by the tribunal. Hundreds of witnesses testified about the crimes committed during the war.

Throughout the trial, Mladić showed little remorse, denied responsibility for the crimes and blamed his subordinates for carrying out his orders.

ICTY prosecutor Alan Tieger described Mladić as “the master of life and death” and said he had to be held accountable for the suffering of his victims and the destruction of their communities.