In brief
Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, who earned the nickname “Butcher of Bosnia” during the 1990s conflict, has died at 84 in the UN prison at The Hague. Mladić received a life sentence from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017 after evidence of his role in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He evaded capture for 16 years before being taken to The Hague for trial in 2011, and his life sentence was upheld in 2021. A recent court decision rejected a bid for his release, affirming that he was already receiving comprehensive palliative care in prison. His death marks a somber end to a case that reverberated globally.
Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, has died in the UN prison at The Hague at the age of 84.
Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017 following evidence of his role in the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995, earning him the nickname “Butcher of Bosnia.”
After the war he evaded capture for 16 years before being located in rural Serbia in 2011 and brought to trial in The Hague.
His life sentence was upheld on appeal in 2021 and in May the Hague court rejected an attempt to release him on humanitarian grounds, citing that he was receiving comprehensive palliative care in prison.
The UN officials confirmed the death after the inmate had passed away in the hospital attached to the UN jail, bringing a grim closure to a case that had shocked the international community.
