AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: EUR 63/009/2009
Date:
On 5 August 2009, eight years after exhumation and 14 years after
his disappearance, the International Commission for Missing Persons announced
that it had identified the remains of Avdo Palić, a war-time commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (Armija Bosne i Hercegovine), forcibly taken away from the UN Protection Forces (UNPROFOR)
compound in Žepa in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) by soldiers from the Bosnian Serb Army (Vojska Republike Srpske) on 27 July 1995. Following the initial identification, additional DNA
analysis conducted on 19 August 2009, requested by Avdo Palić’s wife, has
confirmed that the remains exhumed from the Vragolovi
mass grave in Rogatica municipality in November 2001,
do indeed belong to Colonel Palić.
Amnesty International welcomes the
identification of the location of the mortal remains of Avdo Palić, but
regrets the length of time it took to make this step. The organization also
reminds
that, though this constitutes an important beginning toward justice, the most important task remains yet
undone. Amnesty International is concerned that the BiH
authorities have failed to take meaningful steps to bring those responsible for
the enforced disappearance of Avdo Palić to justice.
The news that the mortal remains of Avdo
Palić have finally been located is a bitter reminder that thousands of
people still reported missing as a
result of the 1992-95 armed conflict in BiH
are yet to be identified.
Almost 14 years after
the end of the war in BiH, Amnesty International is
seriously concerned about the continuing impunity for enforced disappearances
and other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law
committed during the war. The organization is also concerned about the
continuing lack of justice and redress for the victims of these violations and
their relatives.
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