Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pale, Bosnia-Herzegovina - 27 August 2026
1. Pale memorial to Serb soldiers
2. Serb flag
3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Janko Seslija, Bosnian Serb war veteran:
"I think that simply he did not die of his own death, he was murdered in those dungeons. It's known that our politicians and soldiers have been convicted there for a lifetime imprisonment without particular evidence. As far as general Mladic is concerned, as a soldier of Army of Republika Srpska, I am so sorry, he was an honest man, an honest soldier and an honest general."
4. Sign reading "Pale" in cyrillic
5. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Milanka Cicovic, Pale resident:
"He was the only one who took care of his people, of the army, of the creation of our state, our entity now. If I could, I would give my life for him."
6. Coat of arms of Serb army
7. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Nenad Tadic, Pale resident:
"As a man, as a general, as a soldier - I have the best opinion of him. He will remembered as one the greatest historical figures of the Serbian people."
8. Wide of church
9. Wide of road
STORYLINE:
Residents of Pale, a Bosnian Serb stronghold just outside of Sarajevo, mourned the death of Ratko Mladic on Thursday.
The Bosnian Serb general, whose forces rained shells and snipers’ bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, died in prison aged 83.
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.
“He was murdered there, in those dungeons,” said Janko Seslija, a former Bosnian Serb soldier. “He was an honorable man, honorable soldier and commander.”
"He will remembered as one the greatest historical figures of the Serbian people," said Pale resident, Nenad Tadic.
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 ruthless 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. Defiant, Mladic acted bullishly during his trial and yelled at the judges when sentenced to life in prison.
AP video shot by Vojislav Stjepanovic
Produced by Amer Cohadzic
===========================================================
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(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pale, Bosnia-Herzegovina - 27 August 2026
1. Pale memorial to Serb soldiers
2. Serb flag
3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Janko Seslija, Bosnian Serb war veteran:
"I think that simply he did not die of his own death, he was murdered in those dungeons. It's known that our politicians and soldiers have been convicted there for a lifetime imprisonment without particular evidence. As far as general Mladic is concerned, as a soldier of Army of Republika Srpska, I am so sorry, he was an honest man, an honest soldier and an honest general."
4. Sign reading "Pale" in cyrillic
5. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Milanka Cicovic, Pale resident:
"He was the only one who took care of his people, of the army, of the creation of our state, our entity now. If I could, I would give my life for him."
6. Coat of arms of Serb army
7. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Nenad Tadic, Pale resident:
"As a man, as a general, as a soldier - I have the best opinion of him. He will remembered as one the greatest historical figures of the Serbian people."
8. Wide of church
9. Wide of road
STORYLINE:
Residents of Pale, a Bosnian Serb stronghold just outside of Sarajevo, mourned the death of Ratko Mladic on Thursday.
The Bosnian Serb general, whose forces rained shells and snipers’ bullets on Sarajevo and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, died in prison aged 83.
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.
“He was murdered there, in those dungeons,” said Janko Seslija, a former Bosnian Serb soldier. “He was an honorable man, honorable soldier and commander.”
"He will remembered as one the greatest historical figures of the Serbian people," said Pale resident, Nenad Tadic.
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 ruthless 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. Defiant, Mladic acted bullishly during his trial and yelled at the judges when sentenced to life in prison.
AP video shot by Vojislav Stjepanovic
Produced by Amer Cohadzic
===========================================================
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/2513c9c745ed488c8b3909bf91f8916e
