Ratko Mladic funeral: Balkan war figures' fates

Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic is due to be buried on September 7 after his death in prison on August 27, drawing attention to the fates of other major figures from the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

Mladic was convicted of genocide and war crimes over the siege of Sarajevo by his forces between 1992 and 1996 and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys, among other crimes. He was arrested in Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run, sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017, and lost his appeal in 2021.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was convicted in The Hague in 2016 over the Srebrenica genocide and other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking. His 40-year prison sentence was later increased to life imprisonment.

Former Serbian president and Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in 2006 while on trial on charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. An official report said he had suffered a heart attack.

Serb ultranationalist politician Vojislav Seselj was found guilty on appeal in 2018 of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The court said he had incited violence against Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs. He remains free because he had already spent almost 12 years in detention.

Retired Croatian army general Ante Gotovina was sentenced in 2011 to 24 years in prison for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Croatia's 1991-1995 war, but was acquitted on appeal.

Zeljko "Arkan" Raznatovic, a Serbian mob boss and paramilitary leader, was indicted in 1997 for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia. He was shot dead in a Belgrade hotel in January 2000.

Former Bosnian Croat commander Slobodan Praljak killed himself by drinking cyanide in The Hague in November 2017 after appeal judges upheld his 20-year prison sentence.

Kosovo's former president Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders went on trial in April 2023 for war crimes. Prosecutors requested a 45-year prison sentence in early 2026. Thaci denies charges including murder and torture.

Naser Oric, a former commander of Bosnian forces in Srebrenica, was acquitted of war crimes charges by an international court in 2008 and later by Bosnian courts in 2017 and 2018.