Ratko Mladic died on Thursday, August 27, 2026, in The Hague where he was serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, according to multiple sources [1, 2, 3]. He was 84 years old and had suffered multiple strokes in recent months [1, 2].

Mladic will be buried with full military and state honours by Serbia, Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic said. "It is certain that General Mladic will receive all the military and state honours to which he is entitled, as far as the state is concerned," Vujic stated [1].

Mladic was the Bosnian Serb military leader convicted of orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, where over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed. The massacre was part of the wider Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995, which resulted in approximately 100,000 deaths and 2.2 million displaced persons [1, 2, 3].

He was arrested in Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run and transferred to The Hague. In November 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to life imprisonment. His sentence was confirmed on appeal in 2021 [3]. Mladic was part of a leadership trio along with Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic during the Yugoslav wars [1, 3].

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic criticized the UN war crimes court for denying Mladic early release, calling it "uncivilized behavior". Vucic said the release would have allowed Mladic to die in Serbia [2]. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed the gravity of Mladic's crimes. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, "The Secretary-General stands in solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families who suffered the crimes for which Mr Mladic was found guilty … [and] reiterates his call on all those in position of power to refrain from denying the seriousness of the crimes that have been adjudicated" [2].

Mladic’s death marks the end of a long chapter in post-war justice. Serbia has announced plans for his burial with full honours, though no specific date for the funeral has been disclosed.