In July 1995 , troops commanded by Mladić , harried by NATO air strikes intended to force compliance with a UN ultimatum to remove heavy weapons from the Sarajevo area , overran and occupied the UN " safe areas " of Srebrenica and Žepa . At Srebrenica over 40,000 Bosniaks who had sought safety there were expelled . An estimated 8,300 were murdered , on Mladić 's order . On 4 August 1995 , with a huge Croatian military force poised to attack the Serb-held region in central Croatia , Radovan Karadžić announced he was removing Mladić from his post and assuming personal command of the VRS himself . Karadžić blamed Mladić for the loss of two key Serb towns in western Bosnia that had recently fallen to the Croatian army , and he used the loss of the towns as an excuse to announce his surprising changes in the command structure . Mladić was demoted to an " adviser " . He refused to go quietly , claiming the support of both the Bosnian Serb military as well as the people . Karadžić countered by denouncing Mladić as a " madman " and attempting to remove his political rank , but Mladić 's obvious popular support forced Karadžić to rescind his order on 11 August . His actions during the war led to many dubbing him " The Butcher of Bosnia "
8,300 were murdered
Srebrenica massacre
Ratko Mladić