GOJEVIĆ-ZRNIĆ AND MANČIĆ v. CROATIA
Inadmissible
Dmitry Dedov;Elisabeth Steiner;Erik Møse;Khanlar Hajiyev;Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Ksenija Turković
1. The first applicant, Mr Mijo Gojević-Zrnić was born in 1954 and lives in Knin, Croatia. The second applicant, Mr Stipan Gojević-Zrnić was born in 1949 and lives in Šibenik, Croatia. The third applicant, Ms Marija Mančić was born in 1952 and lives in Augsburg, Germany. They are all Croatian nationals and represented by Mr H. Alajbeg, a lawyer practicing in Split. 2. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Š. Stažnik. 3. The President of the Section decided to grant the Government’s request for confidentiality of the case file documents (Rule 33 of the Rules of Court). 4. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 5. On 30 January 1993 the applicants’ mother, P.G.Z., was killed in the village of K. in Croatia, then occupied by Serbian paramilitary forces. 6. The Croatian authorities regained control over that territory in August 1995. 7. On an unspecified date, the Croatian police found photographs which the police of the Serbian paramilitary authorities had taken on 26 February 1993 in the course of an on-site inspection concerning the killing of the applicants’ mother. 8. It appears that the Croatian authorities opened an investigation into the killing of the applicants’ mother. On 27 February 1996 the Croatian police interviewed B.E., A.E. and P.E, neighbours of the applicants’ late mother. None of them had any relevant information about her killing. 9. On 26 January 1997, on the order of an investigating judge of the Šibenik County Court, the body of the applicants’ mother was excavated. The autopsy showed that she had been killed. 10. Between 21 September 2009 and 15 March 2010 the police interviewed six people in connection with the killing of the applicants’ mother, but none of them gave any relevant information. 11. In the meantime, on 1 December 2008 the applicants brought a civil action for damages against the State in connection with the killing of their mother, before the Knin Municipal Court. In the course of the proceedings before the first-instance court, at a hearing held on 15 April 2009, in the presence of the applicants’ legal counsel and the applicants themselves, all the evidence gathered during the investigation was presented. On 30 April 2009 the claim was dismissed. In their appeal of 3 June 2009 the applicants alleged, inter alia, that the Croatian authorities had failed to carry out any relevant measures in order to identify and punish those responsible for the killing of their mother. The first-instance judgment was upheld by the Šibenik County Court on 8 March 2010, the Supreme Court on 15 June 2011 and the Constitutional Court on 30 May 2012.