Ratko Mladić commanded Bosnian Serb forces in the 1990s against the Bosnian Croat and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) armies. During the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, his troops committed what became known as “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia-Herzegovina in a bid to expel the non-Serbian population by force. They besieged the capital city of Sarajevo, with the deaths of
Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his actions during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has died in prison. BBC special correspondent Allan Little was there throughout the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, and met Mladić in the early months of the Bosnian war. At night, you could watch the
In May, a UN court at The Hague rejected a bid for his release from jail as he was nearing the end of his life. The judge agreed his situation was “dire” but ruled that he was receiving “comprehensive and compassionate treatment” in prison. Mladić – who never recognised the UN court – had been