( CNN ) -- Ratko Mladic , the former Bosnian Serb army commander wanted for crimes against humanity , is a notorious name synonymous with the dissolution of Yugoslavia , the Balkan wars of the 1990s and the bloody assaults on Sarajevo and Srebrenica . Born in Kalnovik , Bosnia and Herzegovina , during the height of World War II , the 69-year-old was a career soldier who served in Yugoslavia 's military before that nation dissolved in the early 1990s . Mladic then became a leader of Bosnian Serb forces during the brutal conflict in Bosnia , the bloodiest in Europe since the allies fought Germany in the 1940s . He was shaped by the war when his father was killed by Croat Nazis when he was 2 years old . In 1965 he graduated from a military academy and joined the Communist Party in Yugoslavia , an ethnic stew of six states -- Bosnia , Serbia , Macedonia , Slovenia , Croatia , and Montenegro . Working his way up the ranks , Mladic was general of the Yugoslav Federal Forces in Sarajevo in 1992 , an entity later transferred to the Bosnian Serb army when war engulfed Bosnia after it declared independence . The state was populated by Muslims , Croats and Serbs , but Serbian forces wanted to take lands where Serbs had been a majority . Mladic is charged with leading a 1992 siege against the city of Sarajevo , an assault that lasted two years and killed thousands . He is also accused of leading a 1995 attack on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica , where close to 8,000 Muslim men and boys died . In 1995 , he was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes and an international arrest warrant was issued a year later . Mladic faces charges of genocide , complicity in genocide , persecutions , extermination and murder , deportation and inhumane acts , unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians , murder , cruel treatment , attacks on civilians and the taking of hostages . The genocide and complicity in genocide charges involve `` the planning , preparation or execution of the intentional partial destruction '' of Bosnian Muslims in various towns , including Srebrenica . In detailing its charges against Mladic , the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia cites the `` widespread killing , deportation and forcible transfer of non-Serbs in furtherance of the 1992 and 1993 'ethnic cleansing ' campaigns in the Bosnian Krajina and in eastern Bosnia ; by causing serious bodily or mental harm to Bosnian Muslims , including torture , physical and psychological abuse , sexual violence and beatings . '' It said Bosnian Muslims were subjected `` to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction , namely through cruel and inhumane treatment , including torture , inhumane living conditions and forced labor . '' Such alleged crimes occurred many locations , including in Banja Luka and Srebrenica . The court also cites Mladic 's alleged role in the Bosnian Serb siege on the city of Sarajevo . Mladic , working with others , planned and ordered `` a protracted military campaign in which Bosnian Serb forces under his control , in particular the Sarajevo Romanija Corps , used artillery and mortar shelling and sniping to target civilian areas of Sarajevo , killing and wounding civilians . '' The U.S . Rewards for Justice program announced a $ 5 million reward for information leading to Mladic 's capture . Over the years , he has eluded authorities as his cohort , the former Bosnia Serb president , Radovan Karadzic , was apprehended and is facing various charges at the court in The Hague .
Mladic 's father was killed by Croatian Nazis . The military leader led the siege against Sarajevo . He was also in charge of the attack against Srebrenica . Mladic is wanted for crimes against humanity , among other charges .