Ratko Mladić
Encyclopedia
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague
, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). His trial began on 3 June 2011.
Mladić came to prominence in the Yugoslav Wars
, initially as a high-ranking officer of the Yugoslav People's Army
and subsequently as the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb Army) in the Bosnian War
of 1992–1995. In 1995, he was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide
, war crimes and crimes against humanity. As the top military general with command responsibility
, Mladić was accused by the ICTY of being responsible for the 1992–1995 Siege of Sarajevo
and the Srebrenica massacre
—the largest mass murder
in Europe since the immediate aftermath of World War II
.
In July 1996 the Trial Chamber of the ICTY, proceeding in the absence of Mladić under the ICTY's Rule 61, confirmed all counts of the original indictments, finding there were reasonable grounds to believe he had committed the alleged crimes, and issued an international arrest warrant. Serbia
and the United States offered €5 million for information leading to Mladić's capture and arrest. In October 2010, Serbia intensified the hunt by increasing the reward for Mladić's capture from €5 million to €10 million. Serbia also asked Interpol
for help in locating the fugitive. Mladić nevertheless managed to remain at large for nearly sixteen years; on 26 May 2011, Serbian security forces arrested him in Lazarevo
, Serbia. His capture was considered to be one of the pre-conditions for Serbia joining the European Union
.
A long-time member of the Yugoslav Communist Party, Mladić began his career in the Yugoslav People's Army
in 1965 and had an undistinguished career in Communist Yugoslavia until the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991.
located near Mount Treskavica
, southeast of Sarajevo, in the municipality of Kalinovik
west of Goražde
(43°37′55"N 18°42′50"E) on 12 March 1943. His father Neđa (1909-1945) was a member of the Yugoslav Partisans, and his mother Stana (née Lalović; 1919-2003) raised the three children by herself; daughter Milica (b. 1940), sons Ratko and Milivoje (1944-2001), after the death of the father. Bosnia and Herzergovina was at the time part of the short-lived Independent State of Croatia
, a fascist puppet-state led by the Ustasha, created after Nazi Germany
and Fascist Italy
invaded and partitioned the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
in 1941. Mladić's father was killed while leading a partisan attack on the home village of Ante Pavelić
in 1945.
Upon finishing elementary school, Mladić worked in Sarajevo as a whitesmith in the "Tito company". He entered the Military Industry School in Zemun
in 1961, and then went on to the KOV Military Academy, and then Officers Academy. Upon his graduating on 27 September 1965, he started his work in the Yugoslav Army. The same year, he joined the Yugoslav Communist Party, remaining a member until the party disintegrated in 1990. He began his first post as an officer in Skopje
on 4 November 1965, where he was the youngest soldier in the unit which he commanded. Beginning with the rank of second lieutenant (April 1968), he proved himself to be a capable officer, first commanding a platoon (May 1970), then a battalion (27 November 1974), and then a brigade. In September 1976, he began his higher military education at the "Komandno-štabne akademije" in Belgrade
, finishing in first place with a grade of 9,57 (out of 10). On 25 December 1980, he became a Lieutenant colonel
, and in 18 August 1986 he became a colonel
, based in Štip
. He finished an additional year of military education in September 1986. On 31 January 1989, he was promoted to the post of head of the Education Department of the Third Military District of Skopje. On 14 January 1991, he was once more promoted, as Deputy Commander in Priština
.
(JNA), and led this formation against Croatian forces in Knin
, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina
. On 4 October 1991, he was promoted to Major General. The JNA forces under his command participated in the Croatian War
, notably during Operation Coast-91 in an attempt to cut of Dalmatia
from the rest of Croatia, which resulted in a stalemate (Croatia held entire coastline near Zadar and Šibenik, while Serb Krajina expanded its territory in the hinterland). Among other early operations, Mladić aided Milan Martić
's militia overtake the village of Kijevo
.
On 24 April 1992, Mladić was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel General
. On 2 May 1992, one month after the Bosnian Republic's declaration of independence, Mladić and his generals blockaded the city of Sarajevo, shutting off all traffic in and out of the city, as well as water and electricity. This began the four-year Siege of Sarajevo
, the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. The city was bombarded with shells and sniper shooting
. On 9 May 1992, he assumed the post of Chief of Staff/Deputy Commander of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA in Sarajevo. The next day, Mladić assumed the command of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA.
On 12 May 1992, in response to Bosnia's secession from Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Serb Parliament voted to create the Army of Republika Srpska
(VRS, in short). At the same time, Mladić was appointed Commander of the Main Staff of the VRS, a position he held until December 1996. In May 1992, after the withdrawal of JNA forces from Bosnia, the JNA Second Military District became the nucleus of the Main Staff of the VRS. On 24 June 1994, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel General
over approximately 80,000 troops stationed in the area.
In July 1995, troops commanded by Mladić, harried by NATO air strikes intended to force compliance with a UN ultimatum to remove heavy weapons from the Sarajevo area, overran and occupied the UN safe areas of Srebrenica
and Žepa
. At Srebrenica over 40,000 Bosniaks
who had sought safety there were expelled. An estimated 8,300 were murdered
, allegedly on Mladić's order. In November 1995, when Judge Fouad Riad indicted Mladić of genocide in Srebrenica at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY), he stated that the events were "Truly scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history".
On 4 August 1995, with a huge Croatian military force poised to attack the Serb-held region in central Croatia
, Radovan Karadžić
announced he was removing Mladić from his post and assuming personal command of the VRS himself. Karadžić blamed Mladić for the loss of two key Serb towns in western Bosnia that had recently fallen to the Croatian army
, and he used the loss of the towns as an excuse to announce his surprising changes in the command structure. Mladić was demoted to an "adviser". He refused to go quietly, claiming the support of both the Bosnian Serb military as well as the people. Karadžić countered by denouncing Mladić as a "madman" and attempting to remove his political rank, but Mladić's obvious popular support forced Karadžić to rescind his order on 11 August.
On 8 November 1996, the President of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Biljana Plavšić
, dismissed Mladić from his post. He continued to receive a pension
until November 2005.
(ICTY) for genocide, crimes against humanity, and numerous war crimes (including crimes relating to the alleged sniping campaign against civilians in Sarajevo). On 16 November 1995, the charges were expanded to include charges of war crimes for the attack on the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995.
A fugitive from the ICTY, he was suspected to be hiding either in Serbia
or in Republika Srpska
. Mladić was reportedly seen attending a football match between China and Yugoslavia
in Belgrade
in March 2000. He entered through a VIP entrance and sat in a private box surrounded by eight armed bodyguards. There were claims that he had been seen in a suburb of Moscow, and that he "regularly" visited Thessaloniki
and Athens
, which raised suspicions that numerous fake reports were sent to cover his trail. Some reports said that he took refuge in his wartime bunker in Han Pijesak
, not far from Sarajevo, or in Montenegro
. In early February 2006, portions of a Serbian military intelligence report were leaked to the Serbian Newspaper Politika
which stated that Mladić had been hidden in Army of Republika Srpska
and Yugoslav People's Army
facilities up until 1 June 2002, when the National Assembly of Serbia
passed a law mandating cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague
. The then-Chief General of the Yugoslav Army Nebojša Pavković
requested that Mladić vacate the facility where he was staying on mountain Povlen
, near Valjevo
, after which the Serb military agencies claim to have lost all trace of him.
Mladić had gone into hiding after the arrest of Slobodan Milošević
in 2001, after having lived freely in Serbia.
In 2004, Paddy Ashdown
, at the time the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, removed the 58 officials from their post due to suspicions that they helped war crimes suspects including Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić to evade capture. Some officials were subjected to travel bans and had their bank accounts frozen. The ban was later lifted after the capture of Mladić.
In November 2004, British defense officials conceded that military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Mladić and other suspects to trial. One winter’s day British UN troops carrying side arms were confronted by the general skiing down the piste at Sarajevo’s former Olympic skiing resort but made no move for their guns; skiing behind Mladić were four bodyguards. Despite his Hague warrant, they decided to carry on skiing. NATO later sent commandos to arrest various war crimes suspects, but Mladić simply went underground. No amount of NATO action or UN demands, or even a $5 million bounty announced by Washington, could bring him in.
It was revealed in December 2004 that the Army of Republika Srpska had been harboring and protecting Ratko Mladić until the summer of 2004, despite repeated and public pleas to collaborate with the ICTY and apprehend war criminals. On December 6, NATO said that Mladić visited his wartime bunker during the summer in order to celebrate the Army of Republika Srpska-day.
In June 2005 The Times
newspaper alleged that Mladić had demanded a $5 million (£2.75 million) "compensation" to be given to his family and bodyguards if he gave himself up to the ICTY in the Hague.
In January 2006, the Belgrade court indicted 10 people for aiding Mladić in hiding from 2002 to January 2006. An investigation showed Mladić spent his time in New Belgrade, a suburb of the capital.
It was erroneously reported on 21 February 2006 that Mladić had been arrested in Belgrade
and was being transferred via the northeastern Bosnian city of Tuzla
to the ICTY war tribunal. The arrest was denied by the Serbian government. The government did not deny rumors of a planned negotiated surrender between Mladić and Serbian Special Forces. Romanian government and Serbian sources claimed on 22 February 2006 that Mladić was arrested in Romania
, near Drobeta-Turnu Severin
, close to the Serbian border by a joint Romanian-British special operation carried out by troops of those respective countries. However, ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte
denied the rumors that Mladić had been arrested, saying that they had "absolutely no basis whatsoever". She urged the Serbian government to find him without further delay, saying that Mladić was in reach of the Serbian authorities and had been in Serbia since 1998. She said that failure to capture him would harm Serbia's bid to join the European Union
(EU). The 1 May 2006 deadline established by Del Ponte for Serbia to hand over Mladić passed, resulting in talks between Serbia and the EU being suspended. The EU considered Mladić's arrest, along with full cooperation with the ICTY, preconditions that had to be met before Serbia could join the organization.
In July 2008, Serbian officials voiced concern that Ratko Mladić would order or had ordered his bodyguards to kill him to prevent him from being captured to face trial.
, 14.29% of Serbia's citizens would reveal information that would lead to his arrest in exchange for €1 million, 20.57% do not have a determined attitude, and 65.14% would not divulge information for one million Euros (the poll was conducted when the United States embassy issued a reward of 1.3 million Euros for any information on Ratko Mladić). However, it has been noted that the formulation of the question may have been a problem, as the polling samples which opted "No" included also those who would immediately report Mladić without payment, believing that payment in this case is immoral. Although preceding reports indicated that 47% supported the extradition, it is now apparent that most of the population is against it.
According to a poll conducted by the National Committee for Cooperation with the ICTY, 78 percent of those polled would not report Mladić to the authorities, 34 percent said they would approve of Mladić's arrest, while 40 percent believe he is a hero.
, Serbia's minister in charge of co-operation with the UN tribunal, confirmed that the footage was old and had already been handed over to the ICTY in March 2009.
He also said that "the last known footage was taken eight years ago. The last time Mladić was in military premises was at the Krcmari army barracks near (the western Serbian town of) Valjevo on 1 June 2002." The previously unseen images show Mladić in various restaurants and apartments and at what appears to be military barracks in Serbia, almost always accompanied by his wife Bosa and son Darko.
, near Zrenjanin
in the Banat
region of the northern province of Vojvodina
. His arrest was carried out by two dozen Serbian special police officers wearing black uniforms and masks, and sporting no insignia. The police were accompanied by Security Information Agency and War Crimes Prosecutor's Office agents. The officers entered the village in four jeeps in the early morning hours, while most residents were still asleep. They pulled up to four houses simultaneously, each owned by Mladić's relatives. Mladić was about to venture into the yard for a walk after being awakened by pain, when four officers jumped over the fence and broke into the house just as he moved toward the door, grabbing Mladić, forcing him to the floor, and demanding he identify himself. Mladić identified himself correctly, and surrendered two pistols he had been carrying. He was then taken to Belgrade
. Mladić was arrested in the house of his cousin Branislav Mladić, at the Ul. Vuka Karadžića 2. Branislav had been identified as a possible suspect at least two months before, and had been under surveillance right up to his arrest. After initial doubt as to the identity of the arrested man, Serbian President Boris Tadić
confirmed that it was Mladić at press conference and announced that the process of extraditing him to the ICTY was underway. Mladić had been using the pseudonym "Milorad Komadić" while in hiding. Mladić was not wearing a beard or any disguise. His appearance reportedly showed he had "aged considerably", and one of his arms was paralyzed due to a series of strokes.
Following his arrest, Mladić appeared before the Belgrade Higher Court for a hearing on whether he was fit to be extradited to the Hague. Judge Milan Dilparić suspended interrogation due to his poor health. Mladić's lawyer Miloš Šaljić said that his poor health prevented him from properly communicating. He was allegedly unable to confirm his personal data, but attempted to talk to the prosecutors on several occasions, especially to Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekarić. However, the court ruled that he was fit to be extradited on 27 May. According to the Serbian Health Ministry, a team of prison doctors described his health as stable following checkups. Mladić was also visited in prison by Health Minister Zoran Stanković
, a former friend.
Mladić became grandfather when his son Darko had a daughter, Anastasija, in 2001. A grandson, Stefan, was born in 2006, and was named after St. Stefan
, the patron saint of the Serbs.
cemetery. However, it was concluded that she had used her father's handgun, which he had been awarded at military school in his youth. There are also conflicting opinions on the cause of the decision to commit suicide. She may have read about the war atrocities attributed to her father in the newspapers.
Ratko himself said she had been killed by his enemies. Most people that knew Ratko personally, said that his daughter's death transformed him into "a bloodthirsty maniac". One of his former commanders told Newsweek magazine: "Some people think he went mad. Mladic’s life had two phases - before and after the death of Ana. He never recovered. He was a broken man." Upon his arrest, he was allowed to leave his cell and visit the grave of his daughter where he spent a few minutes.
Articles
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The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY). His trial began on 3 June 2011.
Mladić came to prominence in the Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
, initially as a high-ranking officer of the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
and subsequently as the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb Army) in the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
of 1992–1995. In 1995, he was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, war crimes and crimes against humanity. As the top military general with command responsibility
Command responsibility
Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
, Mladić was accused by the ICTY of being responsible for the 1992–1995 Siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
and the Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
—the largest mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
in Europe since the immediate aftermath of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In July 1996 the Trial Chamber of the ICTY, proceeding in the absence of Mladić under the ICTY's Rule 61, confirmed all counts of the original indictments, finding there were reasonable grounds to believe he had committed the alleged crimes, and issued an international arrest warrant. Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and the United States offered €5 million for information leading to Mladić's capture and arrest. In October 2010, Serbia intensified the hunt by increasing the reward for Mladić's capture from €5 million to €10 million. Serbia also asked Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
for help in locating the fugitive. Mladić nevertheless managed to remain at large for nearly sixteen years; on 26 May 2011, Serbian security forces arrested him in Lazarevo
Lazarevo
Lazarevo is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...
, Serbia. His capture was considered to be one of the pre-conditions for Serbia joining the European Union
Accession of Serbia to the European Union
The accession of Serbia to the European Union is the process of the Republic of Serbia being admitted into the framework of the European Union as a full-fledged member state.Serbia officially applied for European Union membership on 22 December 2009...
.
A long-time member of the Yugoslav Communist Party, Mladić began his career in the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
in 1965 and had an undistinguished career in Communist Yugoslavia until the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991.
Early life and military career
Mladić was born in the village of BožanovićiBožanovići
Božanovići is a village in the municipality of Kalinovik, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located northwest of the town of Kalinovik. As of 1991 it had a population of 66 people....
located near Mount Treskavica
Treskavica
Treskavica is a mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, situated in Trnovo municipality just south of city of Sarajevo.Mala Ćaba peak at 2088 meters , makes Treskavica the tallest of all the mountains circling Sarajevo, and only some 300 meters shorter than the tallest mountain in the country...
, southeast of Sarajevo, in the municipality of Kalinovik
Kalinovik
Kalinovik is a town and municipality in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Kalinovik is located about 40 kilometres south of Sarajevo, in the middle of one of the karstic landscapes characteristic of the region...
west of Goražde
Goražde
Goražde , is a city and municipality in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Drina river. It is located between Foča, Sokolac and Višegrad, and is administratively part of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the center of the Bosnian Podrinje Canton.-Location:Goražde is situated on the...
(43°37′55"N 18°42′50"E) on 12 March 1943. His father Neđa (1909-1945) was a member of the Yugoslav Partisans, and his mother Stana (née Lalović; 1919-2003) raised the three children by herself; daughter Milica (b. 1940), sons Ratko and Milivoje (1944-2001), after the death of the father. Bosnia and Herzergovina was at the time part of the short-lived Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, a fascist puppet-state led by the Ustasha, created after Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and Fascist Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
invaded and partitioned the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
in 1941. Mladić's father was killed while leading a partisan attack on the home village of Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
in 1945.
Upon finishing elementary school, Mladić worked in Sarajevo as a whitesmith in the "Tito company". He entered the Military Industry School in Zemun
Zemun
Zemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
in 1961, and then went on to the KOV Military Academy, and then Officers Academy. Upon his graduating on 27 September 1965, he started his work in the Yugoslav Army. The same year, he joined the Yugoslav Communist Party, remaining a member until the party disintegrated in 1990. He began his first post as an officer in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
on 4 November 1965, where he was the youngest soldier in the unit which he commanded. Beginning with the rank of second lieutenant (April 1968), he proved himself to be a capable officer, first commanding a platoon (May 1970), then a battalion (27 November 1974), and then a brigade. In September 1976, he began his higher military education at the "Komandno-štabne akademije" in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, finishing in first place with a grade of 9,57 (out of 10). On 25 December 1980, he became a Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, and in 18 August 1986 he became a colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
, based in Štip
Štip
Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796...
. He finished an additional year of military education in September 1986. On 31 January 1989, he was promoted to the post of head of the Education Department of the Third Military District of Skopje. On 14 January 1991, he was once more promoted, as Deputy Commander in Priština
Pristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....
.
Role in the Yugoslav wars
In June 1991, Mladić was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Pristina Corps in Kosovo at a time of high tension between Serbs and Kosovo's majority Albanian population. That year, Mladić was given command of the 9th Corps of the Yugoslav People's ArmyYugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(JNA), and led this formation against Croatian forces in Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
. On 4 October 1991, he was promoted to Major General. The JNA forces under his command participated in the Croatian War
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
, notably during Operation Coast-91 in an attempt to cut of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
from the rest of Croatia, which resulted in a stalemate (Croatia held entire coastline near Zadar and Šibenik, while Serb Krajina expanded its territory in the hinterland). Among other early operations, Mladić aided Milan Martić
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
's militia overtake the village of Kijevo
Kijevo, Croatia
Kijevo is a small village in the Dalmatian hinterland, southeast of Knin in the Šibenik-Knin county in Croatia. The population of the municipality is 623 , with 99.9% declaring themselves Croats.-Location:...
.
Lieutenant Colonel General
Lieutenant Colonel General, in Serbo-Croat Генерал-Потпуковник or General-Potpukovnik , is a rank in some armies, notably the Serbian Army and Air Force....
. On 2 May 1992, one month after the Bosnian Republic's declaration of independence, Mladić and his generals blockaded the city of Sarajevo, shutting off all traffic in and out of the city, as well as water and electricity. This began the four-year Siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
, the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. The city was bombarded with shells and sniper shooting
Sniper Alley
"Sniper Alley" was the informal name primarily for Ulica Zmaja od Bosne , the main boulevard in Sarajevo which during the Bosnian War was lined with snipers' posts, and became infamous as a dangerous place for civilians to traverse...
. On 9 May 1992, he assumed the post of Chief of Staff/Deputy Commander of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA in Sarajevo. The next day, Mladić assumed the command of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA.
On 12 May 1992, in response to Bosnia's secession from Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Serb Parliament voted to create the Army of Republika Srpska
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
(VRS, in short). At the same time, Mladić was appointed Commander of the Main Staff of the VRS, a position he held until December 1996. In May 1992, after the withdrawal of JNA forces from Bosnia, the JNA Second Military District became the nucleus of the Main Staff of the VRS. On 24 June 1994, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel General
Colonel General
Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...
over approximately 80,000 troops stationed in the area.
In July 1995, troops commanded by Mladić, harried by NATO air strikes intended to force compliance with a UN ultimatum to remove heavy weapons from the Sarajevo area, overran and occupied the UN safe areas of Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
and Žepa
Žepa
Žepa is a town in the east of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the municipality of Rogatica. Žepa is located northeast of Rogatica itself, southwest of Srebrenica and northwest of Višegrad...
. At Srebrenica over 40,000 Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
who had sought safety there were expelled. An estimated 8,300 were murdered
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
, allegedly on Mladić's order. In November 1995, when Judge Fouad Riad indicted Mladić of genocide in Srebrenica at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY), he stated that the events were "Truly scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history".
On 4 August 1995, with a huge Croatian military force poised to attack the Serb-held region in central Croatia
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
, Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
announced he was removing Mladić from his post and assuming personal command of the VRS himself. Karadžić blamed Mladić for the loss of two key Serb towns in western Bosnia that had recently fallen to the Croatian army
Operation Mistral
Operation Mistral were two linked military offensives of the Croatian Army, Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Croatian Defence Council launched in Western Bosnia and Herzegovina during September 1995 as part of the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War...
, and he used the loss of the towns as an excuse to announce his surprising changes in the command structure. Mladić was demoted to an "adviser". He refused to go quietly, claiming the support of both the Bosnian Serb military as well as the people. Karadžić countered by denouncing Mladić as a "madman" and attempting to remove his political rank, but Mladić's obvious popular support forced Karadžić to rescind his order on 11 August.
On 8 November 1996, the President of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Biljana Plavšić
Biljana Plavšic
Biljana Plavšić is a former president of Republika Srpska and war criminal. She is the highest ranking Bosnian Serb politician to be sentenced. She was indicted in 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes committed during the Bosnian war...
, dismissed Mladić from his post. He continued to receive a pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
until November 2005.
Indictment by the ICTY
On 24 July 1995, Mladić was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former YugoslaviaInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) for genocide, crimes against humanity, and numerous war crimes (including crimes relating to the alleged sniping campaign against civilians in Sarajevo). On 16 November 1995, the charges were expanded to include charges of war crimes for the attack on the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995.
A fugitive from the ICTY, he was suspected to be hiding either in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
or in Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
. Mladić was reportedly seen attending a football match between China and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in March 2000. He entered through a VIP entrance and sat in a private box surrounded by eight armed bodyguards. There were claims that he had been seen in a suburb of Moscow, and that he "regularly" visited Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, which raised suspicions that numerous fake reports were sent to cover his trail. Some reports said that he took refuge in his wartime bunker in Han Pijesak
Han Pijesak
Han Pijesak is a town and municipality of Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Settlements:• Babine Gornje• Berkovina• Brložnik• Džimrije• Gođenje• Han Pijesak• Japaga• Jelovci• Kraljevo Polje• Kram...
, not far from Sarajevo, or in Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. In early February 2006, portions of a Serbian military intelligence report were leaked to the Serbian Newspaper Politika
Politika
Politika is a Serbian newspaper. It is considered the newspaper of record and is the oldest daily in the Balkans, having been founded on January 25, 1904 by Vladislav Ribnikar. It is currently being published by Politika Newspapers and Magazines , a joint venture between Politika AD and...
which stated that Mladić had been hidden in Army of Republika Srpska
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
and Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
facilities up until 1 June 2002, when the National Assembly of Serbia
National Assembly of Serbia
The National Assembly of Serbia is the unicameral parliament of Serbia. It is composed of 250 proportionally elected deputies elected in general elections by secret ballot, on 4 years term. The National Assembly elects the President of the National Assembly who presides over the sessions...
passed a law mandating cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. The then-Chief General of the Yugoslav Army Nebojša Pavković
Nebojša Pavkovic
Nebojša Pavković was Chief of the General Staff of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
requested that Mladić vacate the facility where he was staying on mountain Povlen
Povlen
Povlen is a mountain in western Serbia, located thirty kilometers west of Valjevo. It has several peaks, the three most important being Small Povlen , Middle Povlen and Big Povlen ....
, near Valjevo
Valjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
, after which the Serb military agencies claim to have lost all trace of him.
Mladić had gone into hiding after the arrest of Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
in 2001, after having lived freely in Serbia.
In 2004, Paddy Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
, at the time the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, removed the 58 officials from their post due to suspicions that they helped war crimes suspects including Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić to evade capture. Some officials were subjected to travel bans and had their bank accounts frozen. The ban was later lifted after the capture of Mladić.
In November 2004, British defense officials conceded that military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Mladić and other suspects to trial. One winter’s day British UN troops carrying side arms were confronted by the general skiing down the piste at Sarajevo’s former Olympic skiing resort but made no move for their guns; skiing behind Mladić were four bodyguards. Despite his Hague warrant, they decided to carry on skiing. NATO later sent commandos to arrest various war crimes suspects, but Mladić simply went underground. No amount of NATO action or UN demands, or even a $5 million bounty announced by Washington, could bring him in.
It was revealed in December 2004 that the Army of Republika Srpska had been harboring and protecting Ratko Mladić until the summer of 2004, despite repeated and public pleas to collaborate with the ICTY and apprehend war criminals. On December 6, NATO said that Mladić visited his wartime bunker during the summer in order to celebrate the Army of Republika Srpska-day.
In June 2005 The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper alleged that Mladić had demanded a $5 million (£2.75 million) "compensation" to be given to his family and bodyguards if he gave himself up to the ICTY in the Hague.
In January 2006, the Belgrade court indicted 10 people for aiding Mladić in hiding from 2002 to January 2006. An investigation showed Mladić spent his time in New Belgrade, a suburb of the capital.
It was erroneously reported on 21 February 2006 that Mladić had been arrested in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and was being transferred via the northeastern Bosnian city of Tuzla
Tuzla
Tuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 83,770 inhabitants, while the municipality 131,318. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants...
to the ICTY war tribunal. The arrest was denied by the Serbian government. The government did not deny rumors of a planned negotiated surrender between Mladić and Serbian Special Forces. Romanian government and Serbian sources claimed on 22 February 2006 that Mladić was arrested in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, near Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin is a city in Mehedinţi County, Oltenia, Romania, on the left bank of the Danube, below the Iron Gates.The city administers three villages: Dudaşu Schelei, Gura Văii, and Schela Cladovei...
, close to the Serbian border by a joint Romanian-British special operation carried out by troops of those respective countries. However, ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte
Carla Del Ponte
Carla Del Ponte is a former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in August...
denied the rumors that Mladić had been arrested, saying that they had "absolutely no basis whatsoever". She urged the Serbian government to find him without further delay, saying that Mladić was in reach of the Serbian authorities and had been in Serbia since 1998. She said that failure to capture him would harm Serbia's bid to join the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU). The 1 May 2006 deadline established by Del Ponte for Serbia to hand over Mladić passed, resulting in talks between Serbia and the EU being suspended. The EU considered Mladić's arrest, along with full cooperation with the ICTY, preconditions that had to be met before Serbia could join the organization.
In July 2008, Serbian officials voiced concern that Ratko Mladić would order or had ordered his bodyguards to kill him to prevent him from being captured to face trial.
Conjecture of possible death
On 16 June 2010, the family of Ratko Mladić filed a request to declare him dead citing that he was in poor health and has been absent for seven years. If the declaration had been approved Mladić's wife would have been able to collect a state pension and sell his property. The request was rejected by the Serbian authorities.Opinion polls
According to the March 2009 poll of the NGO Strategic Marketing for the television station B92B92
B92 is a radio and television broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. The network's key demographic is chiefly urban and young audience. Its programs, including the news cover topics with fairly liberal political painted attitudes...
, 14.29% of Serbia's citizens would reveal information that would lead to his arrest in exchange for €1 million, 20.57% do not have a determined attitude, and 65.14% would not divulge information for one million Euros (the poll was conducted when the United States embassy issued a reward of 1.3 million Euros for any information on Ratko Mladić). However, it has been noted that the formulation of the question may have been a problem, as the polling samples which opted "No" included also those who would immediately report Mladić without payment, believing that payment in this case is immoral. Although preceding reports indicated that 47% supported the extradition, it is now apparent that most of the population is against it.
According to a poll conducted by the National Committee for Cooperation with the ICTY, 78 percent of those polled would not report Mladić to the authorities, 34 percent said they would approve of Mladić's arrest, while 40 percent believe he is a hero.
Videos of Mladić
On 11 June 2009, a Bosnian television station aired videos of Ratko Mladić, filmed over the past 10 years. The last video that was featured in the show "60 Minuta" showed Mladić with two women, allegedly filmed in the winter of 2008. However, no evidence for this was given by television presenters. Serbia has stated that it was "impossible" for the videos to have been filmed in 2008. Rasim LjajićRasim Ljajic
Rasim Ljajić is the current Minister of Labor, Employment, and Social Affairs of Serbia since 15 May 2007. He is a medical graduate. He is the President of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia, elected on 21 January 2007 on the list of the Democratic Party in the parliament, where it has three...
, Serbia's minister in charge of co-operation with the UN tribunal, confirmed that the footage was old and had already been handed over to the ICTY in March 2009.
He also said that "the last known footage was taken eight years ago. The last time Mladić was in military premises was at the Krcmari army barracks near (the western Serbian town of) Valjevo on 1 June 2002." The previously unseen images show Mladić in various restaurants and apartments and at what appears to be military barracks in Serbia, almost always accompanied by his wife Bosa and son Darko.
Arrest and trial
Ratko Mladić was arrested on 26 May 2011 in LazarevoLazarevo
Lazarevo is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...
, near Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin is a city and municipality located in the eastern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is the administrative centre of the Central Banat District of Serbia...
in the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
region of the northern province of Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
. His arrest was carried out by two dozen Serbian special police officers wearing black uniforms and masks, and sporting no insignia. The police were accompanied by Security Information Agency and War Crimes Prosecutor's Office agents. The officers entered the village in four jeeps in the early morning hours, while most residents were still asleep. They pulled up to four houses simultaneously, each owned by Mladić's relatives. Mladić was about to venture into the yard for a walk after being awakened by pain, when four officers jumped over the fence and broke into the house just as he moved toward the door, grabbing Mladić, forcing him to the floor, and demanding he identify himself. Mladić identified himself correctly, and surrendered two pistols he had been carrying. He was then taken to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. Mladić was arrested in the house of his cousin Branislav Mladić, at the Ul. Vuka Karadžića 2. Branislav had been identified as a possible suspect at least two months before, and had been under surveillance right up to his arrest. After initial doubt as to the identity of the arrested man, Serbian President Boris Tadić
Boris Tadic
Boris Tadić is the President of Serbia and leader of the Democratic Party. He was elected to a five-year term on 27 June 2004, and was sworn into office on 11 July. He was re-elected for a de facto second five-year term on 3 February 2008 and was sworn in on 15 February...
confirmed that it was Mladić at press conference and announced that the process of extraditing him to the ICTY was underway. Mladić had been using the pseudonym "Milorad Komadić" while in hiding. Mladić was not wearing a beard or any disguise. His appearance reportedly showed he had "aged considerably", and one of his arms was paralyzed due to a series of strokes.
Following his arrest, Mladić appeared before the Belgrade Higher Court for a hearing on whether he was fit to be extradited to the Hague. Judge Milan Dilparić suspended interrogation due to his poor health. Mladić's lawyer Miloš Šaljić said that his poor health prevented him from properly communicating. He was allegedly unable to confirm his personal data, but attempted to talk to the prosecutors on several occasions, especially to Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekarić. However, the court ruled that he was fit to be extradited on 27 May. According to the Serbian Health Ministry, a team of prison doctors described his health as stable following checkups. Mladić was also visited in prison by Health Minister Zoran Stanković
Zoran Stankovic
Zoran Stanković is a former Minister of Defence in the Government of Serbia. He served as the Minister of Defence in the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro until the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro...
, a former friend.
Family
Mladić married Bosiljka "Bosa" and they had two children; son Darko and daughter Ana. Ana died on 24 March 1994, aged 23, in an apparent suicide.Mladić became grandfather when his son Darko had a daughter, Anastasija, in 2001. A grandson, Stefan, was born in 2006, and was named after St. Stefan
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
, the patron saint of the Serbs.
Daughter's suicide
There were conflicting reports in various Serbian publications regarding Ana's death and the discovery of her body. Some media said that her body was found in her blood-splattered bedroom, while others claim it was found in a nearby park or in the woods near the TopčiderTopcider
Topčider is a forest park and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is divided between in the municipalities of Čukarica, Rakovica and Savski Venac...
cemetery. However, it was concluded that she had used her father's handgun, which he had been awarded at military school in his youth. There are also conflicting opinions on the cause of the decision to commit suicide. She may have read about the war atrocities attributed to her father in the newspapers.
Ratko himself said she had been killed by his enemies. Most people that knew Ratko personally, said that his daughter's death transformed him into "a bloodthirsty maniac". One of his former commanders told Newsweek magazine: "Some people think he went mad. Mladic’s life had two phases - before and after the death of Ana. He never recovered. He was a broken man." Upon his arrest, he was allowed to leave his cell and visit the grave of his daughter where he spent a few minutes.
External links
Articles
- Mladic and Fikret Abdic (not working)
- Sarajevo bombing 28 May 1992 (not working)
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