Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb warlord, dies in prison at 84

Key Points:

• Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general responsible for the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide, died at age 84 while serving a life sentence at a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
• Mladic was convicted in 2017 for war crimes and genocide committed during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, including the massacre of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since WWII.
• Despite overwhelming evidence and his conviction, Mladic and many Bosnian Serbs never repented, with some viewing him as a national hero, while victims' groups continue to mourn and denounce denial of his crimes.
• Mladic spent years on the run after the war, living in hiding before his arrest in 2011 near Belgrade; he remained defiant during his trial and reportedly suffered poor health during his imprisonment.
• His death marks the end of a notorious chapter in Balkan history, but divisions and denial over his legacy persist among different ethnic groups in the region.