Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia,' died in detention at The Hague at age 83. He was responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed—the deadliest atrocity in Europe since World War II. Captured in 2011 after 16 years as a fugitive, Mladic was convicted in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

His life sentence was upheld in 2021. The tribunal’s presiding judge, Alphons Orie, described his crimes as 'among the most heinous known to humankind.' Mladic’s actions were part of the broader Balkan wars fueled by Slobodan Milosevic’s vision of a Greater Serbia, which led to roughly 100,000 deaths and over 2.5 million displacements. His arrest in Serbia marked a turning point in the country’s efforts to rejoin the European Union.

During trial, Mladic displayed erratic behavior, at times denouncing proceedings as lies, while also showing signs of frailty from strokes. He was also convicted of additional crimes related to the conflict, cementing his legacy as one of the most notorious war criminals of the 20th century.