THE HAGUE — Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, has died at age 84 while serving a life sentence at the United Nations detention unit in The Hague.
Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Mladić commanded forces responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the 1992–1995 Bosnian War. He was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for leading the Srebrenica genocide—where more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were systematically executed—and for overseeing the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo, which resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 civilians.
Shortly before the massacre in July 1995, Mladić was famously captured on video reassuring civilians: “Anyone who wants to leave will be transported, be they old or young. Don’t be afraid… nobody will harm you”. Hours later, his troops separated men and boys for execution.
After evading international justice for 16 years, Mladić was arrested in Serbia in 2011. Reacting to news of his death, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed solidarity with the victims, emphasizing that judicial convictions against Mladić stand as an indelible historical record, while survivor organizations noted he ultimately died in disgrace in a prison cell.