Ratko Mladic, convicted Bosnian Serb general, dies in The Hague prison

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has died at age 83 or 84 in a United Nations detention center in The Hague. Mladic was serving a life sentence for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, which left 100,000 dead. His death follows several strokes, ending a legacy defined by Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

Ratko Mladic death in detention

• ▪Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic died in the United Nations detention centre in The Hague on August 27, 2026
• ▪Ratko Mladic died after suffering several strokes in the months leading up to his death, with reports citing his age as 83 or 84

Srebrenica massacre 1995

• ▪Serb forces under the command of Ratko Mladic executed approximately 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995
• ▪The 1995 Srebrenica massacre occurred in what was meant to be a United Nations-protected enclave and is considered Europe's deadliest act of bloodshed since World War II

Genocide conviction life sentence

• ▪Ratko Mladic appealed his 2017 conviction, but the life sentence was upheld by an international tribunal in 2021
• ▪Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by an international tribunal in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison
• ▪Presiding Judge Alphons Orie stated during the 2017 sentencing that the crimes of Ratko Mladic ranked among the most heinous known to humankind

Balkan wars 1992-95

• ▪Slobodan Milosevic, the nationalist president of Serbia, initiated wars pitting Serbs against Slovenes, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, and Albanians in an effort to create a Greater Serbia
• ▪The 1992-95 war in Bosnia left approximately 100,000 people dead and displaced over 2 million people

Mladic capture 2011

• ▪Ratko Mladic was captured on May 26, 2011, in a farming village north of Belgrade, Serbia, after spending nearly 16 years as a fugitive
• ▪The capture of Ratko Mladic in 2011 ended one of the longest manhunts in modern history

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