Former general was given life sentence in 2012 for genocide over his involvement in 1995 Srebrenica massacre

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The former Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir has died in jail in The Hague where he was handed a life sentence for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the Yugoslav war crimes court confirmed on Tuesday.

“He died overnight,” said an official of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who declined to be named.

Once considered the right-hand man of Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladić, Tolimir, 67, was sentenced to life in 2012 for crimes committed “on a massive scale” during the 1990s Bosnian war.

Tolimir’s wife, Nada Tolimir, told Serbia’s Kurir newspaper that she learned of his death late on Monday.

“He was ill, but the idiots did not allow him to come here and get treatment at home. I was surprised by the news,” the former general’s wife was quoted as saying.

In April, the ICTY appeals chamber upheld Tolimir’s life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Trial judges described Tolimir as Mladić’s “eyes and ears”, particularly in the July 1995 massacre at the supposedly UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb forces slaughtered more than 8,000 mostly Bosnian Muslim men and boys.

The incident was Europe’s worst massacre since those committed during the second world war.

Mladić himself is on trial at The Hague facing charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including for Srebrenica.

Tolimir was one of the most senior Bosnian Serbs to have a verdict handed down by the UN war crimes court and one of a handful of defendants found guilty of genocide.

He was, however, not the first top official to die while in the ICTY’s custody. The former Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević died in 2006, also while on trial for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.