Massacre of four members of Zijad Bacic’s family and the subsequent removal and concealment of their mortal remains, in July 1992

In April 2010, TRIAL submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights concerning the massacre and the subsequent removal and concealment of the mortal remains of Zikreta Bacic (10 years old), Sabahudin Bacic (13 years old), Zikret Bacic (15 years old) and Šida Bacic occurred in July 1992. TRIAL acts on behalf of Zijad Bacic, who is respectively the brother of Zikreta, Sabahudin and Zikret Bacic, and the son of Mrs. Šida Bacic.

When the events took place, Zijad Bacic was 14 years old and lived together with his family in Zecovi, a village not far from Prijedor. He is one of the only three survivors of the massacre of 29 people, including almost all his family, perpetrated by members of the Serb army.

On 25 July 1992, as ethnic cleansing operations were taking place throughout the region around Prijedor, the members of the Bacic family, including Zijad Bacic and some neighbours were forced to hide in the house of Hasan Bacic. In the evening, the place was surrounded by members of the Serb army who opened the fire and arbitrarily killed unarmed women and children, including the members of the family of Zijad Bacic. The latter managed to quickly hide and survived the massacre. Afterwards, with the help of neighbours, acquaintances and distant relatives, he eventually left the country and reached Germany, where he remained until 1997.

Witnesses reported that the mortal remains of the members of the Bacic family were removed by Serbs and taken away in a truck that headed towards Prijedor. The location of the mortal remains of the members of the families of the three applicants remains unknown since then. It is also noteworthy that the identity of some of the perpetrators of the enforced disappearance and of the massacre is known both to the applicants and to witnesses and has accordingly been reported on a number of occasions to domestic authorities.

Almost 18 years after the events, no ex officio, prompt, impartial, thorough and independent investigation has been undertaken by BH authorities to locate, exhume, identify and return to the families the mortal remains of the victims of the massacre; or to identify, prosecute and sanction those responsible for these crimes.

Zijad Bacic repeatedly denounced the events before the competent authorities (e.g. the police in Sanski Most, the Cantonal Prosecutor in Bihać and the State Prosecutor in Sarajevo), as well as before international organizations present in BH (the United Nations International Police Task Force, the International Commission on Missing People, the International Committee of the Red Cross) and entities dealing with the matter of missing people (e.g. the Red Cross in Sanski Most, the Red Cross in Prijedor, the Federal Commission on Missing Persons). Zijad Bacic also formally gave their testimonies to the State Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA), and requested BH authorities to enact criminal proceedings to duly ascertain responsibilities and to punish the perpetrators.

On 16 July 2007 the Constitutional Court of BH, seized by several relatives of missing persons from Prijedor and the surrounding area, including Zijad Bacic declared a violation by BH of the right not to be subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and the right to respect for private and family life of the families of missing persons. The Constitutional Court ordered the domestic institutions concerned to disclose all available information on the fate and whereabouts of the missing people, including the four members of his family. So far, BH authorities failed to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court and did not provide any relevant information to the Court or to Zijad Bacic.

Consequently, Zijad Bacic requests the European Court of Human Rights:

to find that Zikreta Bacic, Sabahudin Bacic, Zikret Bacic and Šida Bacic are victims of a violation of the procedural aspects of Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of torture), in conjunction with Articles 1 (obligation to respect human rights) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights, due to the ongoing failure of BH authorities to conduct an effective investigation on their massacre and the subsequent removal and concealment of their mortal remains;

to find that the applicant is victim of a violation by BH of Article 3 in conjunction with articles 1, 8 and 13 of the Convention, because of the intense anguish generated by the impossibility to have the mortal remains of their loved ones located, exhumed, identified and returned to them; and the ongoing lack of information on the progress and results of the investigations carried out by BH authorities;

to request BH to order independent investigations as a matter of urgency with a view to locating, exhuming, identifying, respecting and returning to the families the mortal remains of the victims of the massacre;

to request BH to bring the perpetrators of the massacre and subsequent removal and concealment of the mortal remains of the members of the applicants’ family before the competent civil authorities for prosecution, judgment and sanction without any further delay; and

to request BH to ensure that Zijad Bacic obtains integral reparation and prompt, fair and adequate compensation for the harm suffered.

On 11 December 2014, the European Court of Human Rights, sitting in a single-judge formation, declared the application inadmissible, finding that the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights are not met. No further details on this decision were provided. The decision is final and is not subject to appeal.

The General Context

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 people died as a consequence of the conflict (1992-1995) in BH and that between 25,000 and 30,000 were victims of enforced disappearance. Around 10,000 people remain missing to date.

The massacre and the subsequent removal and concealment of the mortal remains of Zikreta Bacic, Sabahudin Bacic, Zikret Bacic and Šida Bacic occurred as a part of the ethnic cleansing operations perpetrated by the Serb army in the context of the military attack of Prijedor and the surrounding area.

See also Fikret Bacic and Hidajet Horozovic cases, whose families were also killed in the same circumstances.