CCPR/C/115/D/2048/2011
he was among the men who had been forced to place the corpses of those killed in
Rizvanovići, including her husband, in trucks. That was the last time that the body of Ermin
Kadirić had been seen before it was taken to an unknown destination.
2.5
The armed conflict came to an end in December 1995, when the General Framework
Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina entered into force.5 Thereafter, the authors
travelled several times to Bosnia and Herzegovina. They resided in the State party
intermittently. They claim that they reported the arbitrary deprivation of liberty, illtreatment, arbitrary killing and the subsequent removal and concealment of the mortal
remains of Ermin Kadirić to the domestic authorities and other institutions dealing with
missing people. In 1996, they also reported the disappearance of Ermin Kadirić’s mortal
remains to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the local Red Cross of
Prijedor in Luška Palanka. At the time of the authors’ submission, Ermin Kadirić was
registered with ICRC and the Missing Persons Institute (MPI) as a missing person.6
2.6
On an unspecified date, Ms. Kadirić filed an application before the Municipal Court
in Sanski Most requesting that her husband be declared dead. On 19 December 1997, the
Court declared Ermin Kadirić dead, fixing the date of his death as 20 July 1992. The Court
noted that Ms. Kadirić had alleged that, on 20 July 1992, two soldiers had taken her
husband from their home and killed him in the vicinity of the Patrija coffee shop. It also
accepted the statements provided by two witnesses presented by the author, who confirmed
her account and pointed out that Ermin Kadirić had been easily recognizable among the
other bodies because of his coat and the winter boots he wore, and that he had gunshot
wounds to his back and the lower part of his head. In 2001, he was entered as dead in the
Parish Registry in Prijedor. The authors claim that obtaining a certificate of death was de
facto compulsory in order to obtain a disability pension in the Republika Srpska, pursuant
to article 25 of the Law on the Protection of Civilian Victims of War and article 190 of the
Law on Administrative Procedure, since that is the only evidence accepted by courts in
deciding to award a monthly pension to the relatives of missing persons, who, therefore, are
obliged to undergo this painful procedure in order to have their rights respected.
2.7
In 2001, the authors and other relatives gave DNA samples to facilitate the process
of the exhumation and identification of the mortal remains of Ermin Kadirić. In 2005 and
2006, Ms. Kadirić visited the Šejkovača facilities of the International Commission on
Missing Persons in Sanski Most, where the mortal remains exhumed in the region of
Bosnian Krajina were kept. She tried to identify anything pertaining to her husband,
without success. The authors claim that the Red Cross shared the information concerning
Ermin Kadirić’s case with the local authorities in 1992. Although they were aware of the
reports filed by the authors, the local authorities carried out no ex officio investigation in
order to locate, exhume, identify and return his mortal remains to his family. Furthermore,
to date, no serious investigation has been carried out regarding the arbitrary deprivation of
liberty, ill-treatment, arbitrary execution and the subsequent removal and concealment of
his mortal remains. Those responsible have not been summoned, indicted or convicted.
5
6
4
In accordance with that Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two entities: the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. Brčko District was formally inaugurated on 8
March 2000 under the exclusive sovereignty of the State and international supervision.
The authors provided copies of two certificates issued by the Federal Commission on Missing Persons
on 14 December 2009 and 23 November 2010, stating that their relative was registered as a missing
person since 20 July 1992 in Rizvanovići in Prijedor, and of a letter issued by ICRC on 11 December
2009, reporting that Ermin Kadirić’s case is considered as still open.