Timeline: Life of Ratko Mladic, general turned ‘Butcher of Bosnia’

Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, convicted of genocide and war crimes for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo, has died in prison custody in The Hague at the age of 84.

Mladic died in a hospital following years of declining health after spending approximately 15 years in detention. His death follows repeated denials by the United Nations war crimes tribunal of requests by Serbian authorities and Mladic himself for early release to Serbia on medical grounds. On Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused the tribunal of uncivilised behaviour for denying the release requests.

In response to his death, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres restated the severity of Mladic's offenses. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated that the Secretary-General stands in solidarity with the victims, survivors, and their families who suffered from the crimes for which Mladic was found guilty, and reiterated a call for all those in power to refrain from denying the seriousness of the adjudicated crimes.

Mladic, known as the Butcher of Bosnia, was one of the primary military leaders of the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. In July 1995, forces under his command seized the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, despite the area being designated a protected safe area by the United Nations. In the days following the capture, Bosnian Serb troops executed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys and forcibly expelled between 25,000 and 30,000 civilians. The atrocity was recognized legally as the first genocide on European soil since World War II.

Mladic also directed the siege of Sarajevo, the longest military siege of a capital city in modern history. Lasting 1,460 days, the siege resulted in the deaths of more than 11,500 people as an estimated 480,000 to 500,000 missiles were fired into the city.

Born in March 1942 in the village of Bozanovici in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mladic joined the Yugoslav National Army at age 22 and steadily advanced through the officer ranks. By April 1992, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel general and assumed command of the Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian War.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) first charged Mladic in 1995 with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, issuing an international arrest warrant in 1996. Mladic remained a fugitive for 16 years, hiding in locations across Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbian security forces arrested Mladic on May 26, 2011, at a relative's house in Lazarevo, northern Serbia. He was subsequently extradited to The Hague to stand trial. In 2017, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Mladic's health worsened significantly starting in late 2022. Prior to his death, he filed a final petition for release in June 2025, citing terminal illness, which the court rejected.