Mladic, who became known as the “Butcher of Bosnia”, reportedly died at a United Nations prison hospital in The Hague, Netherlands. Serbian state broadcaster RTS and Bosnian Serb television reported his death, Al Jazeera reported.
A member of Mladic’s family separately confirmed the reports to The Associated Press, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity surrounding his death.
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Mladic was 83 or 84 years old at the time of his death.
He was convicted in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in atrocities committed during the Bosnian War.
Among the most serious charges against him was his responsibility for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after the area had been declared a United Nations “safe area”.
The massacre is widely regarded as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.
Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment after judges found him responsible for some of the most serious crimes committed during the conflict. The tribunal described the crimes as being among the “most heinous known to humankind”.
Following his conviction, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called Mladic “the epitome of evil”.
Mladic spent the final years of his life in custody in The Hague, where he continued to serve his life sentence.
His death marks the end of the life of one of the most notorious figures associated with the Bosnian War, a conflict that left tens of thousands dead and reshaped the political landscape of the Balkans.
