Ratko Mladic, who was found guilty of genocide for masterminding the 1995 slaughter of over 8,000 Muslims in what became Europe’s deadliest atrocity since World War II, has passed away. Mladic died while in the custody of the United Nations on Thursday, according to his attorney Dragan Ivetic, who did not disclose the cause of death. In his final months, the former general was hospitalized in the UN detention center located in a suburb of The Hague.
The massacre in Srebrenica marked the brutal conclusion of a conflict that lasted more than three years, during which Mladic relentlessly bombarded the besieged Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, with the heavy artillery, tanks, and mortars of his nationalist Serb army, resulting in the deaths of 10,000 people. The victims of Srebrenica were hastily buried in mass graves over a four-day period in July 1995, with some remains later relocated to remote areas to conceal the evidence of the atrocities.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) determined that the objective behind the killings was “ethnic cleansing,” aiming to expel Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and other non-Serbs to establish a Greater Serbia. Mladic, along with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, were identified by the tribunal as part of a criminal conspiracy to execute this plan.
Despite being dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” by his adversaries, Mladic refused to acknowledge the court during his 2014 ICTY hearing and vehemently denied the charges when sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017. Karadzic, who was also found guilty of genocide in 2016, along with Mladic, remained at the top of the ICTY’s most-wanted list until the end of the war by Western powers. Prior to Milosevic’s ousting in 2000, Mladic resided securely but discreetly in Belgrade.
Mladic’s military tactics in Bosnia were characterized by extreme brutality, including instances where prisoners were subjected to inhumane conditions, such as being forced to consume salt and deprived of water, as well as facing starvation, rape, and execution. His actions left a deep scar on survivors like Munira Subasic, whose family members fell victim to the Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica.
Mladic’s capture in 2011, after years of evading authorities, saw him surrender without resistance due to health issues. Following his unsuccessful appeal against conviction in 2021, Mladic’s repeated pleas for compassionate release, citing deteriorating health, were also denied.
