Ratko Mladic, the 'Butcher of Bosnia,' has died at 84
Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” has died at 84 while serving a life sentence in The Hague. Convicted of genocide for orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo, Mladic died after a denied humanitarian release bid as his health rapidly declined.
Key Takeaways
- Ratko Mladic died at 84 while serving a life sentence at the UN Detention Unit in The Hague, his lawyer told CNN.
- In 2017 the ICTY convicted him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and related war crimes for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
- He directed the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed.
- A last-week request for early release on humanitarian grounds was denied despite doctors warning his death could come at any time.
Who was Ratko Mladic and why does his death matter?
Ratko Mladic commanded the General Staff of the Army of the breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia during the early 1990s. Backed and armed by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, he was the main architect of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Bosnia’s non-Serb population.
His death closes a chapter for survivors of Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II. For more coverage of landmark cases, see our True Crime & Unsolved Mysteries hub.
What crimes made him the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’?
According to CNN, the UN-established International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Mladic guilty in 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity, persecution, extermination, murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, and hostage-taking.
Under his command, Bosnian Serb forces besieged Sarajevo from higher ground starting in 1992. Residents were trapped for two years under shelling and sniper fire. More than 10,000 people, including many children, died in the siege.
In July 1995, Mladic spearheaded an attack on the UN-designated “safe place” of Srebrenica. More than 7,000 Muslims, mostly men and boys, were slaughtered within a few days. ICTY Judge Fouad Riad called the crimes “unimaginable savagery” and “truly scenes from hell.”
Where did Ratko Mladic die, and what happened beforehand?
Mladic died while serving his life sentence at the UN Detention Unit in The Hague, lawyer Dragan Ivetić told CNN. Reuters reported that Serbian television said the convicted general had died.
His lawyers filed a request for early release on humanitarian grounds last week, citing detention-unit doctors who said his “overall condition has rapidly declined” and that death “may occur at any time.” The request was denied.
Born on March 12, 1942, in Kalinovik in then-Yugoslavia, Mladic graduated from the Yugoslav People’s Army military academy in Belgrade in 1965 and became a career soldier. His genocide conviction and life sentence stood until his death at 84.