Ratko Mladić, the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, dies in The Hague

Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague.

Mladić had been one of the main architects of the policy of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian war. He was convicted of genocide for orchestrating the 1995 killing of at least 8,000 Muslims in the UN-designated “safe area” Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since the second world war.

Mladić, who was nicknamed the “Butcher of Bosnia”, had been in ill health after having a series of strokes.

A UN international tribunal confirmed Mladić’s death, saying he had died in hospital in The Hague earlier in the day.