Arbitrary killing and the subsequent removal and concealment of the remains of Anda Lale and Staka Popovic in August 1992

The case

In September 2012, TRIAL submitted a communication to the UN Human Rights Committee concerning the alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent removal and concealment of the remains of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović in the municipality of Trnovo in August 1992. TRIAL acts on behalf of Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević, who are respectively the son of Mrs. Anđa Lale and the daughter of Mrs. Staka Popović.

Following the Bosnian military attack against the town of Trnovo in mid-July 1992, Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović, together with other six people, fled the town and reached the nearby village of Širokari seeking refuge in a weekend cottage they found empty in the village. On the 2nd August 1992, as they were setting out to have dinner in the weekend cottage in Širokari, Mr. Rajko Lale – another son of Mrs. Anđa Lale who was himself in the house – heard and saw dozens of Bosnian soldiers approaching. When Mr. Rajko Lale realised that the soldiers were about to reach and enter the house, he escaped through the window and hid in a bush very close to the cottage. He stayed in the bush all night, he was frightened and petrified and the only thing he could see was that the weekend house was set on fire by soldiers. He thought that all the persons had been burned inside the house. There was no trace of them in the cottage the following morning.

The fate and whereabouts of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović remain unknown since then and they are officially registered as ‘missing persons’ before domestic and international institutions. More than 20 years after the events, no investigation has been launched to establish what happened to Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović nor to identify, judge and sanction those responsible for their alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent removal and concealment of their remains.

Since 1992, Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević have been suffering from deep and severe psychological distress trying to cope with what has happened to their mothers, the lacerating uncertainty of their fate and whereabouts, the State’s attitude of indifference towards their plight and the absence of compensation or reparations. Moreover their family life was disrupted as a consequence of the arbitrary killing of their mothers and the subsequent concealment of their mortal remains, which have prevented the authors from burying their mothers in accordance with their religious customs and beliefs.

On 13 July 2005 the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), seized by several families of missing persons, including Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević, declared that BiH violated 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 relatives of missing persons. Accordingly, the Court ordered the domestic institutions concerned to disclose all available information on the fate and whereabouts of the missing people, including Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović. To date, Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević have not received any relevant information about their mothers from the institutions concerned.

In September 2012, TRIAL therefore submitted an individual communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee asking it:

to find that Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović are victims of a violation of Art. 6 (right to life) in conjunction with Art. 2.3 (right to a remedy) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights due to the ongoing failure of BiH authorities to conduct an ex officio, prompt, impartial, independent and thorough investigation on their alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent concealment of their mortal remains in order to establish their whereabouts and to locate, exhume, identify and return their mortal remains to the respective families, as well as to identify those responsible for these crimes and to prosecute, judge and sanction them.

To find that Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević are victims of a violation of Art. 7 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment) in conjunction with Art. 2.3 (right to a remedy) of the Covenant because of the severe mental distress and anguish caused by the alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent concealment of the mortal remains of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović. Moreover, Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević allege that the above mentioned provisions are violated also in conjunction with Art. 17 and 23.1 of the Covenant, because of the disruption of their family life as a consequence of the arbitrary killing of their mothers and the subsequent concealment of their mortal remains, which have prevented the authors from burying their mothers in accordance with their religious customs and beliefs.

to request BiH to order independent investigations as a matter of urgency with a view to establishing the fate and whereabouts of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović and to locate, exhume, identify and respect their mortal remains and to return them to the authors of the communication.

to request BiH to bring the perpetrators of the alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent concealment of the mortal remains of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović before the competent authorities for prosecution, judgment and sanction without any further delay.

to request BiH to ensure that Mr. Vide Lale and Mrs. Milojka Blagojević obtain integral reparation and prompt, fair and adequate compensation.

The General Context

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

The alleged arbitrary killing and the subsequent removal and concealment of the remains of Mrs. Anđa Lale and Mrs. Staka Popović took place in the context of the military operations between the Bosnian Serb Army and the Green Berets in the municipality of Trnovo during the summer 1992.

The Decision

On 17 March 2017 the UN Human Rights Committee issued a decision on the case, finding BiH responsible for the violation of several provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In particular, it declared a violation of the right to life and the right to an effective remedy with regard to Mrs. Lale and Mrs. Blagojević, due to the lack of information on their fate and whereabouts. Moreover, the Committee found that this entails a form of inhuman and degrading treatment for their relatives.

The Committee requested BiH to:

• Intensify its investigation to establish the fate and whereabouts of Mrs. Lale and Mrs. Blagojević;
• Bring to justice those responsible for the crimes committed against Mrs. Lale and Mrs. Blagojević;
• Provide the relatives of Mrs. Lale and Mrs. Blagojević with adequate compensation and measures of satisfaction;
• Provide the relatives of Lale and Mrs. Blagojević with the necessary psychological rehabilitation and medical care;
• Prevent similar violations in the future and ensure that investigations into allegations of enforced disappearance and arbitrary executions are accessible to the families of victims.

BiH has now 180 days to inform the Committee about the measures taken to implement this decision.