Croatian authorities’ investigations into two 1991 war crimes were inadequate

In today’s Chamber judgments in the cases Jularić v. Croatia (application no. 20106/06) and Skendžić and Krznarić v. Croatia (no. 16212/08), which are not final 1 , the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: A violation of Article 2 (right to life – lack of an effective investigation) of the European Convention on Human Rights in both cases.

Both cases concerned crimes committed during the Croatian Homeland War: in the first case, the killing of the applicant’s husband by members of the Serbian paramilitary forces (or the Yugoslav People’s Army); and, in the second case, the disappearance of the applicants’ husband and father following his arrest by the Croatian police.