RATKO MLADIC, BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL, DIES IN PRISON AGED 84

Ratko Mladic, who commanded Bosnian Serb forces during the 1990s conflict, has died in a United Nations prison hospital in The Hague at the age of 84, according to Serbian state broadcaster RTS and official Bosnian Serb television. A relative of Mladic, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the reports and stated that his son, Darko Mladic, was travelling to The Hague. UN court officials told the AP in a statement they were unable to immediately confirm Mladic's death. The news came after Mladic had suffered several strokes in recent months.

A UN tribunal sentenced Mladic to life imprisonment in 2017 for war crimes and genocide committed during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. He had been in custody since 2011 following years evading capture. During the war, Mladic commanded troops that laid siege to Sarajevo, established concentration camps for non-Serb civilians, systematically killed prisoners, and in 1995 killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica — described as the only post-World War II case of genocide in Europe. The conflict left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless.

Mladic maintained a defiant stance throughout his trial and yelled at judges when sentenced to life in prison. He remained unrepentant for the atrocities committed under his command. Among some Serbs, he was regarded as a patriot fighting for a pan-Serbian state, though his conviction represented what the UN tribunal characterised as a key step toward bringing justice to victims of the Bosnian wars.