BiH: Mount Vlasic massacre brought before ECHR

Six cases related to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina before the European Court of Human Rights.

In September 2008, the Advocacy Center – TRIAL (ACT) lodged six complaints against Bosnia and Herzegovina with the European Court of Human Rights, on behalf of eight missing persons.

These are the first cases brought by the ACT before the Court.

Edin and Emir Elezovic, Fahrudin Mujkanovic, Serif and Zafir Bajric, Zijad Huskanovic, Fahrudin Elezovic and Asmir Memic are reported missing since they were taken by bus by the Serbian forces to Mount Vlasic on 21 August 1992, from the Trnopolje concentration camp, northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The passengers of the bus, mostly men of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity, were ordered to kneel down on the edge of a cliff. The Serbian police forces then fired at them. It is estimated that more than 200 people died in this massacre. However, the bodies of the victims, and potential survivors, were taken away and have since been missing.

More than 16 years after the event, although the families took several steps to obtain information, no serious investigation has yet been undertaken by the Bosnian authorities in order to locate the bodies and missing persons.

The ACT therefore asked the European Court of Human Rights to recognize that Bosnia and Herzegovina interfered with the fundamental rights of the missing persons as well as those of their relatives, who are, as a result, entitled to reparation. The ACT also requests the Court to order the opening of an effective investigation, so that the families of victims can finally get closure.

For more information on these cases, see here.
See the press release of 8 October 2008 here (pdf)

The victims:

Edin Elezovic	Emir Elezovic	Fahrudin Mujkanovic	Zijad Huskanovic
Serif Bajric	Zafir Bajric	Fahrudin Elezovic	Asmir Memic