Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 over genocide and war crimes, has requested early release on Tuesday for health reasons.

The notorious general, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" for the atrocities he oversaw during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, said he only has a few months to live.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, sentenced Mladic, who is now over 80 years old, for his role in the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre, in which some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in July 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces.

According to a request filed by his lawyer and seen by AFP, the former war leader suffers from an incurable disease and "his remaining life expectancy is measured in months".

Near death

For years, his entourage has described him as sick and frail, requesting in 2017 his provisional release for health reasons.

"Despite the reluctance of the (United Nations Detention Unit) medical service to give a definitive end-of-life expectancy prognosis on paper, it is undeniable and not in dispute that Mr. Mladic is imminently approaching the end of his life," his lawyer wrote.

Mladic was arrested in Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run. He is imprisoned in The Hague.

His son, Darko Mladic, regularly speaks to the Serbian press to report on his father's poor health.