Srebrenica became a symbol of ethnic cleansing after its men and boys were massacred by Bosnian Serbs following a three-year-long siege during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Onder zijn leiding werden in 1995 bij de moslimenclave Srebrenica bijna 8400 mannen doodgeschoten. Nederlandse VN-militairen slaagden er niet in de enclave te beschermen.

“Germans had Hitler, Serbs have Mladic,” said Munira Subasic, whose son and husband were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after they overran Srebrenica.