Convicted War Criminal Mladić Faces His Final Days | David Scheffer’s An Ambassador’s Journal: Substack | May 18th, 2026
In a Substack post for his essay series An Ambassador’s Journal, former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes David Scheffer reacts to a recent report on the health of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Here are some excerpts from this expert analysis.
Mladić’s Deathbed
Scheffer reacts to Mladić’s request to be released on humanitarian grounds for the final days of his life:
The latest report about this notorious war criminal’s health a few weeks ago describes him being on his deathbed in the United Nations Detention Unit in The Hague. Recently, Mladić’s lawyers sought to have him released on humanitarian grounds for his final days. The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, indeed confirmed that, “Mladić is approaching the end of his life.” But she determined in a May 14 ruling that, “Mladić’s continued imprisonment has not become incompatible with international standards of detention aimed at ensuring humane treatment.
Mladić’s Crimes
Scheffer explains Mladić’s original crimes against humanity in Bosnia, in particular the Srebrenica genocide:
Mladić, 84 years old, may still live long enough to be reminded in a few weeks of the 31st anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered over a several-day period by Mladić’s forces. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Mladić guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the Srebrenica genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment on 22 November 2017, a judgment upheld on appeal on 8 June 2021.
Scheffer in the Audience at the Hague
Scheffer gives his own account of Mladić’s trial:
Given my own efforts to assist the Yugoslav Tribunal leading to his indictment and to track him for arrest thereafter, which finally occurred in Serbia on 26 May 2011, Mladić may have recognized me. He frequently tilted his head towards me and stared during that day’s session. I just stared back through the glass wall, very satisfied that he was confronting justice at long last.
Commemoration for a Génocidaire
Finally, Scheffer warns of the wave of apologia that Mladić’s death will elicit:
When Mladić reaches his final day, expect a flood of obituaries in the media that describe his role in the atrocity crimes that consumed Bosnia for so many years. I highly doubt there will be anything written outside the region that redeems his soul.
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Upon Mladić’s death, there doubtless will be nationalist hero worship of him along with resurgence of genocide denial in Serbia and within the Bosnian Serb sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has long been a virulent denier of the Srebrenica genocide and he will likely fan those flames again.
Interested in reading more of the author’s work? Here are his other essays for An Ambassador’s Journal:
While you’re here…
Check out some of the early developments in the realm of international law and crimes against humanity: Nuremberg’s Shadow: Accountability, Psychology, and Modern War
