Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, has died in the United Nations detention unit in The Hague, his family announced and domestic media reported. He was 84 years old.
Mladić was one of the most prominent and controversial figures of the wars during the breakup of Yugoslavia. He headed the Army of Republika Srpska from May 1992 to November 1996, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for the Srebrenica genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war.
He was born on 12 March 1942 in the village of Božinovići near Kalinovik, in the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. His father Neđo, a member of the Partisan movement, died in 1945, so Ratko, his brother Milivoje, and his sister Milica were raised by their mother Stana.
From metal turner to JNA officer
Mladić completed primary school in his hometown and then went to Sarajevo, where he worked as a metal turner. In his youth, according to available biographical data, he considered teaching and medicine, but ultimately chose a military career.
He enrolled in the Military Academy in Belgrade in 1961, and four years later entered active service in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). He performed his first officer duty in Skopje, where he served as a platoon commander.
Over the following decades, he advanced through command and staff positions. He served in Skopje, Kumanovo, Štip, Priština, and Knin, and at the end of 1991 was promoted to the rank of Major General.
He was transferred to Knin in June 1991, at the time of escalating conflict in Croatia. He was Chief of Staff and then commander of the JNA Ninth Corps, which participated in fighting in northern Dalmatia.
At the head of the Army of Republika Srpska
Following the outbreak of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the withdrawal of the JNA, Mladić transferred in May 1992 to the newly formed Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).
On 12 May 1992, the National Assembly of the then Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina appointed him commander of the VRS Main Staff. He remained in that post until at least 8 November 1996, according to the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
As commander of the Main Staff, he directed VRS military operations during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His role in the siege of Sarajevo, the events in Srebrenica, the expulsion of the non-Serb population, and the taking of United Nations personnel as hostages became the subject of the Hague Tribunal’s indictment.
He was dismissed from his post as commander in November 1996 by decree of the then President of Republika Srpska, Biljana Plavšić. His professional military service in the Army of Republika Srpska formally ended in 2002.
Indictment, hiding, and arrest
The prosecution of the Hague Tribunal issued its first indictment against Mladić on 24 July 1995. After the war, he evaded arrest for years, making him one of the most wanted war crimes fugitives in Europe.
He was arrested on 26 May 2011 in a relative’s house in the village of Lazarevo near Zrenjanin. Five days later, he was transferred to the detention unit of the Hague Tribunal.
The trial began on 16 May 2012. During the proceedings, hundreds of witnesses were heard and thousands of items of evidence were presented.
The Tribunal’s Trial Chamber sentenced him to life imprisonment on 22 November 2017. He was found guilty on ten of the 11 counts in the indictment.
The court established his guilt for the Srebrenica genocide, persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, forcible transfer, terrorising the population of Sarajevo, unlawful attacks on civilians, and taking UN personnel hostage. He was acquitted of the charge of genocide in six municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1992.
On 8 June 2021, the Mechanism’s Appeals Chamber affirmed the conviction and the sentence of life imprisonment, bringing the proceedings to a final conclusion.
Health condition and release requests
Mladić’s health had been poor for years. His defence team and family repeatedly requested temporary or early release for medical treatment in Serbia, but those requests were turned down.
In 2026, his lawyers stated that an irreversible deterioration in his health had occurred. The court ordered an independent medical assessment, but the application for release was refused on the grounds that he was receiving appropriate medical and palliative care in the detention unit.
Mladić had two children with his wife Bosiljka. Their daughter Ana died in 1994, whilst their son Darko lives in Belgrade with his family.
What Ratko Mladić was convicted of
Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, was definitively sentenced to life imprisonment for the Srebrenica genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The trial began in May 2012, a year after his arrest in Lazarevo near Zrenjanin. On 22 November 2017, the Hague Tribunal found him guilty on ten of 11 counts. The Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals confirmed the first-instance verdict and life sentence on 8 June 2021.
Mladić received a final conviction for:
- Genocide in Srebrenica in 1995;
- Persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, and forcible transfer of Bosniaks and Croats across several municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Terrorising the population of Sarajevo, murder, and unlawful attacks on civilians during the siege of the city;
- Taking UNPROFOR personnel hostage to prevent NATO air strikes on Army of Republika Srpska positions.
The court established that Mladić participated in four joint criminal enterprises: removing Bosniaks and Croats from territories claimed by the Bosnian Serb leadership, spreading terror among civilians in Sarajevo, eliminating Bosniaks in Srebrenica, and taking UN personnel hostage.
He was acquitted on the first count of the indictment, which charged him with genocide against Bosniaks and Croats in six Bosnian municipalities. The ruling was not unanimous, with the presiding judge of the Appeals Chamber, Judge Prisca Matimba Nyambe of Zambia, issuing a dissenting opinion.
(NIN, 27.08.2026)