GENERAL RATKO MLADIĆ DIES IN THE HAGUE

BELGRADE, AUGUST 27 /SRNA/ — Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, has died at a detention hospital in The Hague at the age of 83, Serbia's State Secretary at the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights Lidija Pavićević said in a statement to SRNA.

She said she had received the information from Mladić's son, Darko Mladić. Mladić had been receiving treatment at a detention hospital in The Hague since 2024. For the past year and a half, he had been bedridden, while the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals had rejected requests for his release on humanitarian grounds so that he could receive treatment in Serbia. Mladić suffered several strokes. He also had serious cardiovascular conditions, high blood pressure, neurological impairments and kidney problems. He was hospitalized several times and underwent various medical and therapeutic procedures, including surgery on his heart and leg. Ratko Mladić was born on March 12, 1943, in the village of Božinovići, in the Kalinovik municipality. He graduated from the Military-Industrial School in Zemun and from the Military Academy and Command and Staff Academy as the top student in his class. He began his military career in 1965 in Skopje and later rose to become head of training of the Third Military District of the Yugoslav People's Army /JNA/. In early January 1991, he became deputy commander of the Priština Corps, and at the end of June that year he moved to Knin. In early March 1992, on the orders of JNA Chief of General Staff Blagoje Adžić, he left his post in Knin for Sarajevo, where he took over from General Milutin Kukanjac and became commander of the JNA's Second Military District, headquartered in Sarajevo. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. On May 12, 1992, by a decision of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska and on the proposal of President Radovan Karadžić, Mladić was appointed commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, a position he held until 1996. He was promoted to the rank of colonel general on June 24, 1994. He retired on February 28, 2001, by decree of then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vojislav Koštunica. He was awarded the Order of Military Merit with Silver Swords, the Order of the Yugoslav People's Army with a Silver Star, the Order of Military Merit with Golden Swords and the Order of Brotherhood and Unity with a Silver Wreath. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted Mladić in 1995 on war crimes charges relating to the conflict in BiH. He was arrested on May 26, 2011, in Lazarevo near Zrenjanin, Serbia, and subsequently transferred to the tribunal in The Hague. The trial of General Mladić began before the Hague Tribunal on June 3, 2011, and in July 2022 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in BiH.