Ratko Mladic, who was found guilty of genocide for masterminding the 1995 massacre of over 8,000 Muslims in what became Europe’s most horrific atrocity since World War II, has passed away.
Mladic’s death was confirmed by his lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, on Thursday, who did not disclose the cause. In his final months, the former general was hospitalized at the UN detention center located in a suburb of The Hague.
The mass killing in Srebrenica marked the brutal conclusion of a conflict that lasted more than three years, during which Mladic relentlessly attacked the besieged capital Sarajevo with his nationalist Serb army, resulting in the deaths of around 10,000 individuals.
Following the Srebrenica massacre, the victims were hastily buried in mass graves over a four-day period in July 1995. Some remains were later exhumed and relocated to remote areas to conceal the evidence of the atrocities.
The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) determined that the objective behind the atrocities was “ethnic cleansing,” aimed at forcibly expelling Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and other non-Serbs to create a Greater Serbia.
According to the tribunal, Mladic, along with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, conspired to execute the plan.
During his ICTY trial in 2014, Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” rejected the court’s authority. Upon receiving a life sentence in 2017, he vehemently denounced the verdict as falsehoods.
Mladic and Karadzic, both convicted of genocide, were at the top of the ICTY’s most-wanted list for years following the end of the conflict. Mladic remained concealed in Belgrade until Milosevic was ousted in 2000.
The army led by Mladic in Bosnia was notorious for its brutality, with prisoners subjected to horrific abuses, including starvation, rape, and execution. Munira Subasic, who lost her son and husband to Bosnian Serb forces, described Mladic as a symbol of the war’s atrocities against Muslims.
Mladic infamously taunted Dutch UN peacekeepers during the Srebrenica siege, deceiving them into believing the residents were safe under his control. He declared the town a “gift” to the Serb people in a bid for revenge against Muslim Turks.
Despite facing pressure, Mladic eventually stepped down in 1996 following Western demands. Born in 1943, Mladic served as an officer in the Yugoslav People’s Army before the country’s dissolution in 1991.
As Bosnia descended into conflict, Mladic assumed command of the Bosnian Serb army, swiftly seizing a significant portion of the country while UN forces remained mostly inactive.
Gradual intervention by Western powers and determined NATO airstrikes ultimately led to the defeat of Mladic’s forces. However, Serbian authorities refrained from apprehending Mladic until his arrest in 2011, by which time he appeared frail and ailing.
Mladic’s appeals against his conviction were denied in 2021, along with requests for compassionate release.