Ratko Mladic: From hunter to hunted to held

A wounded Sarajevo resident sits in shock next to two other seriously wounded civilians moments after one of several mortar shells landed in central Sarajevo on June 22, 1992. (Santiago Lyon / Associated Press)

Shortly after a Feb. 29 referendum in Bosnia-Herzegovina that endorsed independence from Yugoslavia, the forces of Ratko Mladic begin a four-year siege of Sarajevo.

A Muslim woman prays outside Srebrenica at a memorial to the victims of the 1995 massacre. (Elvis Barukcic/AFP/Getty Images)

Bosnian Serb forces, led by Ratko Mladic, capture the “safe area” of Srebrenica. Over several days up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys are slain by Serbian forces.

Ratko Mladic, left, and Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic (Sava Radovanovic/Associated Press)

The United Nations’ tribunal on Balkan war crimes issues indictments against Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, General Ratko Mladic, charging them with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In connection with the massacre in Srebrenica, the U.N. war crimes tribunal issues new indictments against Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic.

Swiss-born Carla Del Ponte at a 2001 press conference in Belgrade. (Koca Sulejmanovic/APF)

President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted in 2000, is handed over to U.N. Tribunal. Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte starts a new campaign to locate and apprehend Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

In January NATO and Bosnian Serb police search Pale on a tip that Radovan Karadzic needs medical help, but find nothing.

Head of the European Union military force says he has evidence that, within the last six months, the Bosnian Serb army hid Radko Mladic in an underground bunker facility in Veliki Zep, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A dozen Serbian generals, including several of Ratko Mladic’s closest aides, surrender to The Hague to face trial.

Fugitive Croat General Ante Gotovina (EPA)

Fugitive Croat General Ante Gotovina is captured, redoubling pressure on Serbia to catch Ratko Mladic. The state warns that anyone aiding Mladic or his helpers will be prosecuted.

(Los Angeles Times)

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is found dead in his prison cell at The Hague. Milosevic, 64, had been on trial on genocide charges for the “ethnic cleansing” campaign in Bosnia-Herzegovina and on charges of crimes against humanity and other war crimes for his role in the conflicts in Croatia and Kosovo.

After months of warnings, the European Union suspends talks with Serbia on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement, putting EU membership hopes on hold. The dramatic turn of evens was set in motion by Belgrade’s failure to meet an EU demand to deliver Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

A Belgrade court indicts 10 people for helping Ratko Mladic hide from 2002 to January 2006. The investigation shows Mladic stayed mostly in the high-rise New Belgrade area of the capital.

Under a new coalition government, the drought of handovers suddenly ends, with the arrest in Bosnia of wanted Ratko Mladic aide Zdravko Tolimir.

Radovan Karadzic in 1995 (Sava Radovanovic/Associated Press)

Radovan Karadzic is arrested in Belgrade. Police say the bearded, grey and almost unrecognizable man had been living under a false identity, practicing alternative medicine.

Serbian police briefly detain Ratko Mladic’s wife, Bosiljka, and charge her with illegal possession of weapons.

Ratko Mladic’s family launch court proceedings to declare him officially dead on the grounds that he had been in poor health and they had had no contact with him for more than five years.

Serbia offers a 10 million euro reward for information leading to the arrest of Ratko Mladic.

Serbia is still not cooperating fully with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the hunt for Ratko Mladic, the chief prosecutor says.

Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted for his alleged role in the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 in the enclave of Srebrenica, is arrested outside of Belgrade.

Ratko Mladic in court at The Hague. (Valerie Kuypers/Associated Press)

Ratko Mladic is thrown out of court at The Hague after he shouts in protest and refuses to hear the allegations against him.

The war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic opens in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Mladic faces 11 counts of genocide, murder, persecution, terrorism and hostage-taking, including the 1995 slayings of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica. He denies all of the accusations.

Elvedin Pasic giving testimony in the court room in The Hague, Netherlands. (ICTY VIDEO / AP Photo)

Elvedin Pasic, a 34-year-old Bosnian Muslim, is the first witness to give testimoney at the United Nations trial of Ratko Mladic. Mladic, who faces 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian war, is the last top-ranking suspect to go on trial at the U.N. court