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Ratko Mladić, Convicted of Genocide and Sentenced to Life, Dies in UN Detention
Ratko Mladić, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," died in his late 80s after years of declining health. The Bosnian Serb general was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.
Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide and a series of crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War, died today (Thursday), a UN official said. Mladić, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," was in his late 80s and had suffered from poor health in recent years, leading to repeated hospitalizations.
Mladić was serving a life sentence for his role in the Bosnian War, which took place from 1992 to 1995. Since his arrest in 2011, he had been held at a UN detention facility. His name was linked to some of the most serious crimes committed during Bosnia's civil war between Serbs and Muslims.
At the center of his conviction was the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which Mladić was convicted of planning. More than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered in the massacre, considered the largest mass killing in Europe since the Holocaust and the first genocide on the continent since the end of World War II.
The legal proceedings against Mladić began as early as July 1995, but after the war in Bosnia ended, he went into hiding and managed to evade arrest for years. He was captured only in 2011 and was then extradited by Serbia's pro-Western government to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
In 2017, Mladić was convicted of crimes against humanity, including genocide, murder, extermination, and acts of terror committed throughout the war, and was sentenced to life in prison. He appealed his conviction, but in 2021, UN judges definitively rejected his appeals and upheld the sentence.
After the appeal was rejected, prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who brought Mladić to trial, addressed the severity of his actions and called him "among the worst war criminals in modern history."
Brammertz added at the time: "His name should stand alongside the most depraved and barbaric figures in history." Mladić remained at the UN detention facility since his arrest, and in his final years his health deteriorated, requiring repeated hospitalizations.
