Ratko Mladic, Convicted 'Butcher of Bosnia,' Dies in Prison at 84

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general convicted of orchestrating the Srebrenica Genocide, died in prison in The Hague at the age of 84. He was serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, reaffirmed the gravity of the crimes Mladic was found guilty of. "The Secretary-General stands in solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families who suffered the crimes for which Mr Mladic was found guilty," Dujarric stated, adding that Guterres reiterates his call for those in power to refrain from denying the seriousness of the adjudicated crimes.

Earlier this year, Serbian authorities requested Mladic be allowed to receive medical treatment outside prison, citing his "serious" health condition. They had also requested early release for him to die in Serbia. However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused the UN war crimes court of "uncivilised behaviour" for not granting an early release.

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The Secretary-General stands in solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families who suffered the crimes for which Mr Mladic was found guilty … [and] reiterates his call on all those in position of power to refrain from denying the seriousness of the crimes that have been adjudicated

Known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," Mladic was a prominent military commander during the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. Under his command, Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica in July 1995, despite its designation as a UN "safe area." In the subsequent days, over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.

Mladic's life began in March 1942 in Bozanovici, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He joined the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) in 1966 and rose through the ranks. By 1991, he was promoted to major-general and later lieutenant-general in April 1992, commanding the JNA's Second Military Area Command in Sarajevo. During the Bosnian War, Mladic led the Bosnian Serb army in the 1,460-day siege of Sarajevo, the longest military siege of a capital city in modern history, which resulted in over 11,500 deaths.

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uncivilised behaviour