Ratko Mladić

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Ratko Mladić is a convicted Serbian war criminal responsible for the massacre of 8,000 unarmed Bosniak men and boys. Mladic was setenced to life in prison in November 2017. He is commonly known as the butcher of Bosnia.

History

Mladic was born to Bosnian Serb parents during World War 2. His father was a Yugoslav partisan who was killed in action.

Mladic worked as a whitesmith in 1961 and graduated in 1965. On the same year, Mladic enlisted into the Yugoslav Army and was stationed in Skopje.

Yugoslav Wars

In 1989, Mladic was stationed in Kosovo as tensions rose between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovar Albanians. Mladic would eventually be transferred fo Croatia to fight off the newly independent Republic of Croatia, under the Serbian Krajina battalion. With his extensive military experience, and the eruption of war in Bosnia, Mladic decided to return to his country of birth to fight for the Serb cause. He became a General for the Republika Srpska forces and quickly led the Serbs to victory taking over nearly 50% of Bosnia. Mladic’s tactics however were extremely cruel. oftentimes his soldiers would raze down villages and rape women and ethnically cleanse entire villages (mainly Muslim targets). 

His first act of criminalility began in 1992. He ordered his forces to surrond the city lf Sarajevo and stop all traffic, food, and electricity to enter into the city. He then ordered his troops to shell Sarajevo in the longest siege of any capital city, known as the Siege of Sarajevo. Mladić’s troops often sniped civilians and even launched mortar rounds into a Sarajevo marketplace, killing 60 people.

As the war progressed however, Mladić decided to focus on attacking United Nations Peacekeepers and assist Serb rebels in Croatia. 

In 1995, Mladić’s forces overran and defeated the United Nations peacekeepers battalian. 40,000 Bosniak Muslim civilians were expelled by Serb forces. 8,300 unarmed Bosniak men and boys were all massacred in under three days, making it the worst act of genocide in European soil since World War 2. Women were also raped as well by his soldiers. Mladić ordered the attack.

As the Bosnian War ended, Radovan Karadžić (himself later convicted of war crimes) wanted Mladić removed. Mladić was then removed in 1996 and continued to receive government pensions until 2005.

Aftermath

Mladić went into hiding for 16 years. He moved to Serbia and remained there, alongside his family. In 2011, the law finally caught up to him, and arrested him for war crimes, He first stood in front of a Serb court, but was later extradited to The Hague where a six-year long series of court trials would occur. In November of 2017, Mladić was sentenced to life in prison for his various crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Personality

Mladić is a sadistic ruthless general as expressed by his actions during the Bosnian War. Mladić is a Serb ultra-nationalist, and often justifies his actions as he often sourcss the Ottoman Empire and how the Muslims would discriminate the Serbs. His obession with war and lust and his perceived “war against the Turks” shows his twisted demeanor. He often accused Western government and condemened them for supporting the Muslims later on in the war. Mladić is sometimes described as a Chetnik, and anti-Muslim.

Trivia

• Mladić has two children.
• Mladić was protected bt Milošević until 2001.
• Was often seen in Thessalaniki and Moscow alongside his native Serbia.
• Graduated as the top 3 in his military class in Belgrade.
• His daughter used his gun to try to commit suicide in 1994. This attempted suicide further harmed him.
• Despire hiding, Serbian security forces provided protection to him ironically until 2011.