CCPR/C/115/D/2064/2011
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 4 April 1992, the Serb Territorial Defence Forces set up a barricade outside the
author’s family home. The house was subjected to crossfire between the Serbian and the
Bosnian Territorial Defence Forces for several days. On or around 10 June 1992, Božo
Mandić was wounded by a sniper while he was in the courtyard in front of his house. The
victim’s wife took care of him until around 16 June 1992 when she was captured by
members of the Bosnian Territorial Defence Force and taken to a concentration camp. At
the beginning of July 1992, the she was released in a prisoner exchange and tried to make
contact with her husband, with no success. Thereafter, she informed her son, Milan Mandić,
that his father was missing.1
2.2
Between July and August 1992, Milan Mandić reported the disappearance of his
father three times to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Pale. The first
written certificate attesting that Božo Mandić had been reported missing was issued by
ICRC on 7 July 1995.2 On 17 March 1995, the author also reported the disappearance of
Božo Mandić to the ICRC Central Tracing Agency office in Zagreb, which issued a
certificate on 13 May 1996. In 1996, Milan Mandić addressed a request for information to
the Serbian Commission for the Exchange of Prisoners of War and Missing Persons, but he
did not receive any significant feedback. In 1997, Milan Mandić and other relatives of
missing persons of Bosnian Serb origin began to organize an association to establish the
fate and whereabouts of their relatives. The association, among others, started investigating
potential locations of mass graves in Sarajevo Canton.
2.3
In 2000, Milan Mandić learned from an individual called Blagoje Pešic that his
father had been killed. Mr. Pešic also informed him that in June 1992, he had been forced
by a member of the Bosnian Territorial Defence Force to bury Božo Mandić’s body in a
spot between Lukavička Road and the 10th Transversal. Mr. Pešic also said that Božo
Mandić had been shot from behind. On 12 June 1992, Mr. Pešic had reported those events
to the command of the 1st Ilidža Brigade.3 He also repeated his statement to the then
Republika Srpska Ministry of the Interior.4 Nevertheless, neither of these authorities
transmitted this information to the family of Božo Mandić or to the competent judicial
authorities.
2.4
The author later discovered that in 1998, the civil defence units under the
supervision of inspectors from the water protection area had carried out exhumations in the
areas around Lukavička Road. They allegedly exhumed a number of corpses and, according
to the author, the characteristics of one of them matched a description of Božo Mandić.5 On
that occasion, evidence and blood samples were collected by a pathologist who delivered
the corpses and the samples to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Sarajevo. Milan
Mandić tried to contact the Institute on many occasions and, on 15 November 2010, he sent
a letter requesting information on the measures taken to locate the mortal remains of Božo
Mandić. He never received a reply.
2.5
In letters dated 8 March 2005, the Office for Tracing Detained and Missing Persons
of the Republika Srpska requesting the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Cantonal
Court of Sarajevo and the Office of the Cantonal Prosecutor to disclose all available
1
2
3
4
5
The author does not provide information regarding his whereabouts at the time his father disappeared.
The author alleges that, due to the chaotic situation in the State party at that time, certificates were not
a first priority, either for victims or for the Red Cross.
According to a document provided by the author (see note 2), this brigade was part of the Republika
Srpska Army, also known during the war as the Bosnian Serb Army.
The author does not provide further details.
See paras. 2.5 and 2.6.
3