Ex-Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic dead at 84

Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who was serving a life sentence for war crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war has died, a United Nations official said.

Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported on Thursday that he died in a prison hospital in the Hague, after suffering several strokes.

A family member of Mladic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the reports to the Associated Press and said Mladic's son, Darko Mladic, was on the way to the Hague.

The International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Mladic of charges including crimes against humanity and genocide in 2017, handing him a life sentence. The verdict was confirmed on appeal in 2021.

Mladic was held responsible for his role in the 1992 to 1995 war in Bosnia, including July 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

The slaughter, the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II, saw him named the "Butcher of Bosnia."

Under Mladic's command, Bosnian Serb forces besieged Sarajevo and other towns, operated detention camps for non-Serbs and enemy soldiers, and systematically killed prisoners.

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