Latest Developments

1999

In November, Mrs Palic brings an application before the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina, alleging the violation of her husband's right to liberty and to respect for his family life as well as of his other civil rights.

2001

In January, the Chamber instructs the Republika Srpska (RS) to free Avdo Palic, if still alive, or otherwise to make his mortal remains available to Mrs Palic. The Chamber further instructs the authorities to carry out an investigation into the fate of Avdo Palic from the day he was detained, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice. The Chamber also instructs the authorities to pay compensation to Mrs Palic for the mental suffering she has endured.

On 26 October, the RS Minister of Defence provides the Chamber with new information about Avdo Palic, in response, he says, to letters from Amnesty International (AI) groups in France and Austria. He says that Avdo Palic was taken to a military prison at Vanekov Mlin, in Bijelina, on 4 August 1995, and was held there until 5 September. On that date, a Captain Dragomir Pecanac reportedly went to the prison and requested that Avdo Palic be transferred to his custody for subsequent release. The Head of the prison reportedly complied. According to the Minister, no further information about Captain Pecanac and his current whereabouts is available.

In December, Esma Palic receives 65,000 KM for the mental suffering she has endured.

2003

In March and April, AI groups receive letters from the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs, basically repeating the information provided by the Ministry of Defence in 2001. In the summer, the new Minister of Defence writes to several AI members in the U.S. reiterating the information and pledging to respond promptly and openly to AI inquiries.

2005

In February, Zdravko Tolimir is indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Dragomic Pecanac is named in the indictment as a member of a "joint criminal enterprise", the "common purpose of which was to force the Muslim population out of the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves." Both Tolimir and Pecanac are still at large.

On 7 September, responding to a request from Mrs Palic to re-examine the degree of endorsement of the 2001 Human Rights Chamber decision, the Commission for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina rules that indeed the Chamber's decision had not been implemented. The Commission gives the RS until December to make up for its omissions.

2006

In January, the Commission considers the latest information supplied by the RS government and finds it insufficient. On 19 January, the outgoing High Representative for Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, calls on the RS to set up a commission to gather all information about his "disappearance". The commission is formed on 25 January and submits its report to the Office of the High Representative (OHR) on 21 April. Click here for the OHR's press release about the commission's findings.

2007

The exhumation finally goes ahead. Six bodies have reportedly been discovered at the site but none was Avdo Palic's. Mrs Palic has been witnessing the exhumations. The search for her husband's body continues.

2009

On August 5, the International Commission for Missing Persons announces that Avdo Palic's remains have been identified. Following the initial identification, additional DNA analysis conducted on 19 August 2009, requested by Esma Palic, confirms that the remains exhumed from the Vragolovi mass grave in Rogatica municipality in November 2001, do indeed belong to her husband.