Ratko Mladić dies aged 84 in UN detention unit in The Hague

• Ratko Mladić has died at 84 while serving a life sentence for genocide. 

Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has died in a UN detention center in The Hague following a period of declining health, Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported Thursday.  

He was serving a life sentence following his conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for overseeing systematic war crimes, extermination campaigns, and ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslims. 

Mladić, 84, had suffered several strokes in recent months. Appeals by Serbian state officials and his family for his release on medical grounds were repeatedly rejected by the international tribunal. 

Known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," Mladić served as the chief military officer alongside political figures Slobodan Milošević and Radovan Karadžić during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. The 1992–1995 conflict left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced over 2.2 million. 

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The Srebrenica genocide 

Mladić’s military command was defined by Europe's worst act of bloodshed since World War II. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces under his direct leadership overran the eastern town of Srebrenica, a designated UN "safe area", and systematically executed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who had sought shelter there. 

The international court ruled that the targeted slaughter at Srebrenica, along with the prolonged, fatal siege of Sarajevo, constituted acts of genocide intended to destroy the local Bosnian Muslim population.