Dragomir Milošević, former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska and a convicted war criminal, has asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to release him before serving his full prison sentence.
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Milošević is serving a 29-year sentence for crimes against the civilian population of Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is now appealing on alleged humanitarian grounds for his release.
According to an official document titled “Dragomir Milošević’s Application for Early Release on Humanitarian Grounds,” which was submitted to the Mechanism on June 6, 2025, Milošević is requesting that he be released from prison due to what he claims are his deteriorating health and advanced age. The document, known as MICT-16-98-ES, contains six pages in which the convicted war criminal outlines personal circumstances that he believes justify his early release.
In his application, he states that he has serious chronic health problems and that his condition is deteriorating with age – he is currently 82 years old.
He points out that he has difficulty moving, that daily functioning in prison conditions is increasingly difficult for him and claims that the prison system cannot adequately respond to his medical needs. He also refers to the fact that he has not had any disciplinary violations during his sentence, and tries to present his behavior as “exemplary” and “rehabilitated”.
In 2007, Dragomir Milošević was found guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of terrorizing the inhabitants of Sarajevo with sniper and artillery attacks between August 1994 and November 1995. He was initially sentenced to 33 years in prison, but his sentence was later reduced to 29 years. The verdict against him confirms that, as commander of the VRS Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, he had effective control over units that carried out daily attacks on civilians in besieged Sarajevo, including the killing of children, the elderly, and citizens engaged in basic life activities.
The worst single crime during the siege, committed under Milošević’s command, is considered to be the bombing of the Markale market in Sarajevo on 28 August 1995, which killed 34 civilians and wounded 78 others. Although the Serbian authorities initially refused to take responsibility for the bombing (as they had done with the first bombing of the same market in 1994), it was proven at Milošević’s trial that the 120 mm shell that fell on the market was fired from a position of the Army of Republika Srpska.
Finally, it is important to note that in no part of the letter does Milošević express remorse for the crimes against Sarajevo civilians, nor does he admit responsibility for the suffering his command inflicted on thousands of innocent people.
