The 16-year manhunt for Ratko Mladic has finally ended following his arrest yesterday. Crikey looks back at key dates during the tyrannical rule of Mladic as a military commander and the attempts to find him after the war ended, in which about 100,000 people were killed during the 1992-95 Balkan wars.

1992:

  • May 2 — One month after the Bosnian Republic declared independence, Mladic and his troops blockaded the capital of Sarajevo. It started the four-year siege of Sarajevo — the longest siege in modern warfare history. The United Nations Commission of Experts Report reveals 10,000 civilians were killed or missing and 56,000 were wounded during the siege.
  • May 10-12 — Mladic wrests control of the Bosnian Serbian Army. Several thousand Muslims and Croatians are said to be killed.
  • December 12 — Just 13 days before Christmas, US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger accuses Mladic as well as Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of committing war crimes against humanity.

1995:

  • April 23 — The UN International Criminal Tribunal declares Mladic and Karadzic to be suspected war criminals.
  • May 25 — Bosnian Serb Army kills 70 and injures 150 civilians after attacking a cafe in the declared UN safe zone of Tuzla.
  • July 11 — Now referred to as the Srebrenica Massacre, Karadzic leads his troops to kill 6000 to 8000 Muslim men and boys allegedly on Mladic’s orders. It is said to be the worst genocide since World War II. This was despite the area being declared a UN “safe zone”.
  • July 24 — The UN Tribunal indicts Mladic and Karadzic on several charges, including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
  • August 5 — Sarajevo Market is attacked by Bosnian Serb Army shell and kills 37 individuals. UN responds with artillery blasts.
  • November 16 — A second indictment against Mladic and Karadzic brings charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the Srebrenica Massacre.
  • November 21 — Serbs are given half of Bosnia and in return must co-operate with the UN International Criminal Tribunal after a deal is struck in the US.

1996:

  • July 11 — The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issue international arrest warrants for Mladic and Karadzic on charges of genocide and war crimes.

2001:

  • June 28 — Milosevic is arrested and handed to the UN Tribunal. It inspires the chief prosecutor to start a campaign to demand that Mladic and Karadzic be arrested.

2008:

  • July 21 — A bearded and unkempt Karadzic is arrested after more than a decade on the run from war crimes charges.

2010:

  • June 16 — Mladic’s family submit a legal application to have him declared legally dead as they had not been in contact with him for years.

2011:

26 May — Mladic is arrested.