Ratko Mladić, the "Butcher of Bosnia," has died in The Hague

Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, convicted of genocide and war crimes, has died in the hospital of the detention facility in The Hague, BAKU.WS reports citing international media.

Mladić was 83 years old.

During the Bosnian War of 1992–1995, Mladić commanded the Serbian army, which held the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, under siege for three years. Around 11,000 people were killed during that time, and over five days in July 1995, approximately eight thousand Bosnians were killed in the city of Srebrenica — the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.

In May 2011, Mladić was arrested in Serbia. In 2017, the Hague Tribunal sentenced Mladić to life imprisonment on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. He did not admit his guilt and stated that he had "merely been defending his people."

Mladić had suffered several strokes, and since 2024 he had been in the hospital of the detention facility in The Hague, where he received palliative care. Petitions for his temporary release for treatment in Serbia were repeatedly denied.