Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 27 August 2026
1. Various of people walking in street
2. Close of Serbian flags
3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Zoran Hadzic, Belgrade resident:
”To me he is a hero and I mean what I said.”
4. Various of Hadzic wearing a T-shirt depicting Ratko Mladic, reading (Serbian): “Serbian hero”
5. Wide of street
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Gordana Obradovic, Belgrade resident:
“Dear God, I feel really sorry. My opinion is that he fought for Serbian people wherever they were.”
7. Various of people in street
8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Dusko Joksimovic, Belgrade resident:
"He fought for Serbia. Not only for Serbia, he fought for the Republic of Srpska and people who live in Republic of Srpska.”
9. Mid of Serbian flag
10. Wide of people walking in street
STORYLINE:
Residents in Belgrade on Thursday expressed sorrow following the death of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic.
U.N. court officials said that Mladic died in a U.N. prison hospital in The Hague, Netherlands.
A family member of Mladic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the reports for the AP and said Mladic’s son, Darko Mladic, was on the way to The Hague.
The U.N. tribunal for war crimes committed during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s sentenced Mladic to life in prison in 2017 in what was considered a key step toward bringing justice to the victims.
He had been in custody since 2011 after many years on the run.
The ruthless, blue-eyed former communist officer-turned nationalist warlord was one of the most notorious figures of the conflict that left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless.
He commanded his troops to “scorch the brains” of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a “Serbian God.”
When the ethnic war in Bosnia started in 1992, Mladic became the commander of the Bosnian Serb troops and took control of large swaths of the country to form a Serb mini-state.
Serbs under Mladic’s control laid siege to the capital, Sarajevo, and other cities and villages, established concentration camps for detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers, and systematically killed prisoners.
In Sarajevo, Serb troops kept the city isolated while killing civilians with snipers.
In 1995, Mladic’s troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica - the only post-World War II case of genocide in Europe.
But Mladic himself and his admirers among the Serbs have never repented.
He was seen by many as a patriot fighting for the first pan-Serbian state.
”To me he is a hero and I mean what I said," said Belgrade resident, Zoran Hadzic.
“I feel really sorry," said another resident Gordana Obradovic.
"My opinion is that he fought for Serbian people wherever they were.”
AP video shot by: Marko Drobnjakovic
===========================================================
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(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 27 August 2026
1. Various of people walking in street
2. Close of Serbian flags
3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Zoran Hadzic, Belgrade resident:
”To me he is a hero and I mean what I said.”
4. Various of Hadzic wearing a T-shirt depicting Ratko Mladic, reading (Serbian): “Serbian hero”
5. Wide of street
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Gordana Obradovic, Belgrade resident:
“Dear God, I feel really sorry. My opinion is that he fought for Serbian people wherever they were.”
7. Various of people in street
8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Dusko Joksimovic, Belgrade resident:
"He fought for Serbia. Not only for Serbia, he fought for the Republic of Srpska and people who live in Republic of Srpska.”
9. Mid of Serbian flag
10. Wide of people walking in street
STORYLINE:
Residents in Belgrade on Thursday expressed sorrow following the death of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic.
U.N. court officials said that Mladic died in a U.N. prison hospital in The Hague, Netherlands.
A family member of Mladic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the reports for the AP and said Mladic’s son, Darko Mladic, was on the way to The Hague.
The U.N. tribunal for war crimes committed during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s sentenced Mladic to life in prison in 2017 in what was considered a key step toward bringing justice to the victims.
He had been in custody since 2011 after many years on the run.
The ruthless, blue-eyed former communist officer-turned nationalist warlord was one of the most notorious figures of the conflict that left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless.
He commanded his troops to “scorch the brains” of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a “Serbian God.”
When the ethnic war in Bosnia started in 1992, Mladic became the commander of the Bosnian Serb troops and took control of large swaths of the country to form a Serb mini-state.
Serbs under Mladic’s control laid siege to the capital, Sarajevo, and other cities and villages, established concentration camps for detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers, and systematically killed prisoners.
In Sarajevo, Serb troops kept the city isolated while killing civilians with snipers.
In 1995, Mladic’s troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica - the only post-World War II case of genocide in Europe.
But Mladic himself and his admirers among the Serbs have never repented.
He was seen by many as a patriot fighting for the first pan-Serbian state.
”To me he is a hero and I mean what I said," said Belgrade resident, Zoran Hadzic.
“I feel really sorry," said another resident Gordana Obradovic.
"My opinion is that he fought for Serbian people wherever they were.”
AP video shot by: Marko Drobnjakovic
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: instagram.com/APNews
You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b581c90e0c414ce7b5e33dea423214a4
