Background

Colonel Avdo Palic was the commander of Bosnian Government forces defending the United Nations-protected enclave of Zepa during the Bosnian war. In July 1995, following the occupation of Zepa by Serb forces, an agreement was reached between the Serbs, the Bosnian government and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). UNPROFOR would organize medical evacuations and the transportation of civilians from Zepa to Kladanj in Bosnian government-held territory. Earlier that month, Srebrenica, another UN "safe area" where tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge, had been overrun by Serb forces, and between 7,000 to 8,000 Bosniac (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys had been killed. Despite the absence of any other international agencies, the evacuation from Zepa was conducted in a relatively orderly fashion and almost 5,000 people reached Kladanj safely. The success of this forced evacuation was due in part to Avdo Palic.

On 27 July, Avdo Palic went to the UNPROFOR compound in Zepa to negotiate with the Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) the evacuation of the last remaining inhabitants. Because his car broke down on the way to the Ukrainian UNPROFOR base, he entered on foot. When his driver, who had stayed behind to fix the car, arrived at the base, he was stopped by BSA soldiers who showed him Avdo Palic's pistol, and told that Palic was still negotiating. Other BSA soldiers later told the driver that Palic had tried to escape and had been shot.

General Ratko Mladic (who had just been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) was present at the negotiations at the UNPROFOR base and reportedly told a UNPROFOR official that Palic was dead. This was not confirmed by General Tolimir, commander of the BSA forces in the region. The UNPROFOR civil affairs officer at the base said that Palic was taken away in a car, whilst Palic's driver suggested that he may have been taken away in General Mladic's helicopter.

Esma Palic has been tirelessly searching for her husband since his "disappearance". She believes that he was alive until at least 1 September 1995. She was told that he may have been alive in March 1996 and was reportedly being considered for a prisoner exchange.