CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 20 janvier 2011

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margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .s9D69DD53 { margin-top:6pt; margin-left:21.25pt; margin-bottom:6pt; text-indent:7.1pt; text-align:justify; font-size:11pt }       FIRST SECTION             CASE OF SKENDŽIĆ AND KRZNARIĆ v. CROATIA   (Application no. 16212/08)               JUDGMENT     STRASBOURG   20 January 2011   FINAL   20/04/2011   This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Skendžić and Krznarić v. Croatia , The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Christos Rozakis, President,   Nina Vajić,   Khanlar Hajiyev,   Dean Spielmann,   Sverre Erik Jebens,   Giorgio Malinverni,   George Nicolaou, judges, and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 9 December 2010, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no. 16212/08) against the Republic of Croatia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by three Croatian nationals, Ms Josipa Skendžić, Ms   Tamara Krznarić and Mr Aleksandar Skendžić (“the applicants”), on 22   February 2008. 2.     The applicants were represented by Ms G. Peraković-Turković, a lawyer practising in Ogulin. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Š. Stažnik. 3.     On 16 December 2009 the President of the First Section decided to communicate the complaint concerning the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention as well as the complaints under Articles 5, 3, 13 and 14 of the Convention, to the Government. It was also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time (Article 29 § 1). THE FACTS 4.     The applicants were born in 1957, 1985 and 1982 respectively and live in Otočac. Background to the case 5.     On 3 November 1991, during the Homeland War in Croatia, an arrest warrant, signed by the then head of Otočac police station ( Policijska postaja Otočac ) J.O., was issued in respect of M.S., the first applicant's husband and the second and third applicants' father, born on 23 June 1948 and of Serbian ethnic origin, who was suspected of having committed the criminal offence of terrorism. On the same day two police officers from the station, D.R. and J.R., went to the applicants' flat in Otočac and arrested M.S., who was taken to J.O. 6.     On the same day, at an unspecified time, two other police officers from the same police station, D.V. and M.Č., took M.S. to the Police Department of the nearby town of Gospić and handed him over to I.O., the Head of the Gospić Operational Headquarters ( Operativni štab Gospić ). They saw I.O. handcuffing M.S. and then went back to Otočac. The whereabouts of M.S. have remained unknown ever since. 7.     At the request of his family, M.S. was presumed dead from 2   November 1996 onwards by virtue of a decision of the Otočac Municipal Court ( Općinski sud u Otočcu ) of 26 March 1998. 8.     The applicants allege that in the same period a number of individuals of Serbian ethnic origin had disappeared or had been killed in the area around the nearby town of Gospić. Criminal investigation 9.     In the days following the arrest of her husband by the police, the first applicant telephoned the local authorities in Otočac and Gospić on numerous occasions to enquire about his fate, but to no avail. 10.     On 17 December 1991, after the first applicant had made enquiries to the Ministry of the Interior (the “Ministry”) regarding her husband, the Ministry sent an official letter to Otočac police station enquiring as to the whereabouts of M.S. since his arrest on 2 November 1991. On 18 December 1991 J.O. replied that M.S. had been arrested on 3 November at 11 a.m. and taken to Gospić County Prison ( Okružni zatvor Gospić ) the same day. 11.     On 20 December 1991 the Ministry sent an official letter to the Gospić Police Department enquiring as to M.S.'s whereabouts. 12.     On 21 December 1991 the Gospić Police Department replied that M.S. had been arrested by officers from Otočac police station and that the Gospić Police Department had not been informed of his arrest. They further stated that, to their knowledge, M.S. had been taken to Zagreb County Prison ( Okružni zatvor Zagreb ). Further to this, on 11 January 1992 the Gospić Police Department informed the Ministry that M.S. had never been detained in Gospić County Prison. 13.     On 27 October 1992 the Ministry sent a letter to both Otočac police station and the Gospić Police Department enquiring as to the whereabouts of M.S. and whether he had been listed as a missing person. 14.     On 29 October 1992 M.Č., one of the above-mentioned police officers from Otočac police station, drew up a report stating that after he had been arrested on 3 November 1991 M.S. had been taken to the Gospić Operational Headquarters and handed over to its head, I.O. He also stated that there was no further information as to M.S.'s whereabouts. 15.     On 14 July 1999 the first applicant sent a letter to the Minister of Justice calling for an official investigation into the disappearance of her husband. On 4 February 2000 the letter was forwarded to the State Attorney with a request that appropriate steps be taken. The first applicant was served with a copy of that request, but received no further information. 16.     The first applicant sent a second letter to the Ministry of Justice on 23   May 2000 seeking information about the steps taken in order to establish the circumstances of her husband's disappearance. 17.     On 7 July 2000 the Gospić County State Attorney's Office ( Županijsko državno odvjetništvo u Gospiću ) ordered investigative measures in connection with the disappearance of M.S. and asked the Otočac police to conduct an interview with former police officer D.R. and former head of the police station J.O. about the disappearance of M.S. The Otočac police interviewed D.R. on 10 July 2000. He said that in the autumn of 1991 he and another police officer, J.R., had arrested M.S. in his flat in Otočac pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by J.O. They had taken M.S. to J.O. and left. 18.     On 11 July 2000 the Otočac police informed the Gospić County State Attorney's Office that they had not been able to interview J.O. because he had moved to Zagreb. 19.     In a letter sent to the Ombudsman on 2 February 2001, the first applicant complained that no action was being taken in respect of the inquiry into the fate of her husband. On 13 March 2001 the Ombudsman's Office asked the applicant to explain what exactly her request was. 20.     On 14 June 2002 police officer, D.R., since retired, was interviewed at Otočac police station. He said that in November 1991 he had been a police officer at that station and that during that period M.S. had been brought to the premises of Otočac police station, where he had been briefly detained and then transferred to Gospić by two police officers, M.Č. and D.V. 21.     On 15 June 2002 J.R., the aforementioned police officer from Otočac police station, made a written statement that on 3 November 1991 he and another police officer, D.R., had executed an arrest warrant and arrested M.S. in his flat in Otočac. They had handed him over to J.O. and left. 22.     On 18 June 2002 former police officer D.V. was interviewed at Otočac police station. He said that he could not remember a person named M.S. but did remember having on one occasion, together with his colleague M.Č., driven an official police vehicle to Gospić, but could not say for what purpose. 23.     The Otočac police informed the Gospić Police Department of the result of the interviews on 19 June 2002 and the Gospić County State Attorney's Office on 26 June 2002. 24.     On 9 February 2004 the first applicant officially registered M.S. with the Otočac police as a missing person. On 19 March 2004 the Otočac police informed the Gospić police that M.S. had been listed as a missing person and asked them to carry out an inquiry because M.S. had disappeared on the territory under their jurisdiction. On 30 March 2004 the Gospić police asked the Gospić Prison authorities whether they had a record of M.S. having been detained there in November 1991 and whether I.O. had had any function at Gospić Prison at that time. 25.     On 1 April 2004 the Gospić Prison authorities informed the Gospić police that M.S. had never been registered as having entered that prison and that I.O. had had no function at the prison, but had been head of the Gospić Operational Headquarters. 26.     On 8 April 2005 the Gospić police asked the Ličko-Senjska Police Department ( Policijska uprava ličko-senjska – the former Gospić Police Department) to request the Zagreb Police Department to interview I.O., who was now living in Zagreb. On 16 April 2004 the Ličko-Senjska Police Department duly made that request. 27.     On 22 April 2004 the Zagreb Police Department interviewed I.O. He stated that during the Homeland War in Croatia, as an officer in the Croatian Army, he had arrived in Gospić on 30 August 1991 and left sometime at the end of September 1991. He had no knowledge of the arrest and disappearance of M.S. 28.     On 7 May 2004 the first applicant asked the State Attorney to take steps in order to establish the whereabouts of her husband. 29.     In May 2004 the State Attorney sent a letter to the Rijeka County State Attorney's Office ( Županijsko državno odvjetništvo u Rijeci ) stating that in September 2000 his office had already forwarded to the Rijeka Office a request that an investigation be carried out into the death of M.S., in particular in connection with the criminal proceedings opened in 1999 against a certain T.O. and other persons. The first applicant's submissions from 2000, in which she stated that she had received no information in reply to her enquiry about the circumstances of her husband's death, were enclosed. The State Attorney requested all information about M.S. that had been obtained during the investigation concerning T.O. and his accomplices. A copy of this letter was served on the first applicant. 30.     On 3 June 2004 the Gospić County State Attorney's Office informed the Ličko-Senjska Police Department about the interview with I.O. and also said that the records of the Military Police Administration showed that I.O. had not been on their payroll. 31.     On 18 June 2004 the Zagreb Police Department interviewed J.O. He stated that from September 1991 to 15 February 1992 he had been head of Otočac police station and that sometime in October or November 1991 an order had been given for M.S. to be arrested and taken to the Gospić Police Department for questioning on suspicion of having participated in the criminal offence of kidnapping a driver in the spring of 1991. He did not know who had given that order but was sure that it had not been him. J.O. also said that he had not seen M.S. when he was taken to the Otočac police but that he knew that M.Č., together with one or two other police officers, had taken M.S. to the Gospić police in a police car. He had no knowledge as to what had happened there but had heard rumours that on the same day M.   S. had run away to the occupied territories. 32.     On 13 July 2004 the Zadar Police Department ( Policijka uprava zadarska ) interviewed Ž.B., who had been Head of the Public Safety Operational Tasks Division of the Gospić Police Department ( načelnik Odjela operativnih poslova javne sigurnosti Policijske uprave Gospić ) in the period between 1 August and 30 November 1991. He had no knowledge of the arrest and disappearance of M.S. and had never heard of a person of that name. 33.     On 24 August 2004 the Ličko-Senjska Police Department interviewed I.D., a retired police officer from the Gospić Police Department who said that he had not ordered the arrest of M.S. and that it had most likely been J.O. who had ordered it. He had not witnessed M.S. being brought to the Gospić Police Department. 34.     In October 2004 the Deputy State Attorney sent a letter to the first applicant telling her that both the Gospić Police Department and the Gospić County State Attorney's Office had been ordered to take all necessary steps to establish the circumstances of her husband's disappearance. 35.     On 11 November 2004 the Gospić County State Attorney's Office asked the Gospić County Court ( Županijski sud u Gospiću ) to hear evidence from witnesses J.S. (the first applicant), J.O., M.Č., D.V., D.R., J.R. and I.O. At hearings held on 23 and 24 November 2004 an investigating judge of the Gospić County Court heard evidence from all these witnesses, save J.O. All of them repeated what they had already said to the police. Further to this, on 10 February 2005 an investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court ( Županijski sud u Zagrebu ) heard evidence from J.O. He repeated the statement he had made to the police. 36.     At the end of 2004 the first applicant wrote to the Vice-President of the Government, enquiring about the progress of the investigation, and the latter forwarded the letter to the State Attorney. In February 2005 the Deputy State Attorney informed the applicant that in November 2004 a request for an investigation into the disappearance of M.S. to be opened had been lodged with the Gospić County Court ( Županijski sud u Gospiću ). On 10 February 2005 the investigating judge assigned to the case heard evidence from a number of witnesses. 37.     In August 2005 the first applicant's counsel sought information about the investigation from the Gospić County Court. 38.     In September 2005 the Gospić County State Attorney's Office informed the applicant that those responsible for the disappearance of her husband had yet to be identified. The Gospić County State Attorney asked the Gospić Police Department to continue with their efforts to establish the circumstances of M.S.'s disappearance. 39.     In December 2005 the first applicant's counsel asked the State Attorney to transfer the case to another State Attorney's office, objecting to the lack of impartiality of the Gospić County State Attorney's Office on the grounds that the investigation had revealed involvement on the part of the local authorities in the disappearance of M.S. 40.     In January 2006 the State Attorney replied to the first applicant's counsel that he had asked for a report from the Gospić County State Attorney's Office and the local police. 41.     In July 2006 the first applicant's counsel told the representatives of the OSCE Mission to Croatia that the investigation was ineffective. In August 2006 the Mission enquired of the State Attorney as to progress with the investigation. 42.     At the same time the first applicant's counsel requested that M.S. be listed as a disappeared person with the Department for Detained and Disappeared Persons and provided information as to where his body might be found. Soon afterwards, the Ministry of Family, Homeland War Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity ( Ministarstvo obitelji, branitelja i međugeneracijske solidarnosti ) informed the representative that three corpses of unidentified persons had been found as a result of exhumation at a graveyard in Vraneš. In connection with this the members of the Skendžić family gave samples of their blood. 43.     In October 2006 the State Attorney's Office informed the OSCE Mission to Croatia that further information had been requested from the Gospić County State Attorney's Office. The latter ordered the local police authorities to undertake further steps in order to identify the perpetrators. However, no further steps were taken. 44.     On 6 September 2007 the applicants lodged a constitutional complaint about the ineffectiveness of the investigation. The proceedings are still pending. Civil proceedings against the State 45.     In March 2002 the applicants brought a civil action against the State in the Otočac Municipal Court seeking damages in connection with M.S.'s disappearance. 46.     In a judgment of 6 May 2005 the Municipal Court established that M.S. had been arrested by the police and alive while in police custody and that therefore the State was responsible for his disappearance and death. It awarded the applicants each 230,000 Croatian kunas (HRK) for non-pecuniary damage in respect of their suffering for the death of a close relative, and also a monthly allowance to the first applicant until her death and to the second and third applicants for as long as they attended school. The relevant part of the judgment reads: “... the arrest warrant issued by the Otočac police station on 3 November 1991 in respect of M.S., on the basis of which he was brought to that station, and at the same time the lack of any evidence that M.S. was handed over to any other State body, leads this court to establish the defendant's responsibility. ... As stated above, the fact that there is no evidence that the Otočac police station handed the detainee M.S. over to any other State body is crucial for the question of the defendant's responsibility because the issue of control over the detainee includes taking of responsibility for his safety and for the protection of his physical integrity. The evidence given by the witnesses, in particular the police officers who participated in M.S.'s arrest and his transfer to Gospić, shows that their actions violated the detainee's fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Croatian Constitution, which cannot be restricted even at the time of ... the immediate war danger ... as well as the rights guaranteed by the Code on Criminal Procedure then in effect. It has been established that the defendant, in addition to infringing the procedure prescribed by law, did not secure to the detainee the protection of his physical integrity and life, which resulted in his disappearance and presumption of his death. In such a way, it is clear that damage was caused by unlawful and incorrect acts on the part of the State bodies, namely, the Ministry of Interior ... ... This court has no doubt that the suffering on account of the death of a husband and father cannot be translated into money: it concerns just satisfaction so that the plaintiffs may be at least partially helped in regaining their mental balance, which was certainly upset by the loss of a husband and father. In assessing the amount of just satisfaction for the plaintiffs' suffering, the court has had particular regard to the circumstances and manner in which the deceased M.S. disappeared, and accordingly considers the plaintiffs' sufferings as being particularly serious. The court has taken into account that the deceased, M.S., was arrested by the legitimate authorities and that since he was taken from his home, his family – the plaintiffs – have had no further information about [his whereabouts]. Of course the fate of the plaintiffs' husband and father has given rise to an exceptionally frustrating and stressful situation for the plaintiffs as a family, in particular seeing that the family has never learned the complete truth about his disappearance. In her statement the first plaintiff vividly described the atmosphere of utter despair and uncertainty which the plaintiffs felt at the time when M.S. was arrested and then disappeared, stressing that she had taken tranquilisers because she had received no answers as regards the fate of her husband. The statement of the second plaintiff that as a six-year old child she had been constantly crying, that she and her brother had retreated into themselves and that she would like to know at least where her father had been buried so that she could attend his grave on All Saints Day was also moving. The third plaintiff, who was three at the time of [the disappearance of his father], stressed the strong bond between himself and his father and the time of his arrest and uncertainty about his fate, describing it as 'horrible in which he cannot remember a single nice moment.' It is clear that the mental suffering caused by the loss of a parent or a husband is immeasurable. In the case at issue the plaintiffs' suffering has an additional dimension owing to the fact that they still do not know the exact circumstances of M.S.'s death or the place of his grave.” 47.     The part of the judgment concerning the award for non-pecuniary damage was upheld by the Gospić County Court on 12 January 2006, whereas the part concerning the monthly allowance was quashed. On 10   October 2007 the Supreme Court ( Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske ) upheld the County Court's judgment concerning the award for non-pecuniary damage. This judgment was fully enforced on 29 April 2008. 48.     The proceedings concerning the claim for a monthly allowance resumed before the Otočac Municipal Court, which delivered a fresh judgment on 11 February 2009, again awarding the applicants a monthly allowance, which was upheld by the Gospić County Court on 3 July 2009. 49.     On 31 August 2009 the applicants sought enforcement of that judgment in the Otočac Municipal Court and an enforcement order was issued on 9 September 2009. 50.     However, upon a request by the State on 22 September 2009, the enforcement of the judgment was adjourned on the grounds that the State had in the meantime lodged an appeal on points of law with the Supreme Court, which was still pending. THE LAW I.     ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 2 OF THE CONVENTION 51.     The applicants complained that M.S. had been arrested by the Croatian police in November 1991 and had subsequently disappeared and that no effective investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and disappearance had taken place. They relied on Article 2 of the Convention, the relevant parts of which read: “1.     Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law. ...” A.     Admissibility 1.     The parties' arguments 52.     The Government argued that the application had been lodged outside the six-month time-limit because on 9 December 2005 the applicants had already complained to the State Attorney about the inefficiency of the investigation and therefore that date should be taken as the starting date for the six-month time-limit. 53.     The Government also argued that the applicants were no longer victims of the alleged violations because in the civil proceedings against the State the national courts had established the State's responsibility for the disappearance of M.S. and awarded the applicants damages. 54.     In reply, the applicants submitted that the investigation into the disappearance of their close relative was still pending and that this had been confirmed in the letters sent by the national authorities to the applicants in reply to their enquiries about the progress of the investigation. Furthermore, the applicants had lodged a constitutional complaint which was aimed at remedying the violation claimed. 2.     The Court's assessment (a)     Compatibility ratione temporis 55.     The Court notes that the issue of the Court's temporal jurisdiction arises in respect of the applicants' complaints under both the substantive and procedural aspects of Article 2 of the Convention. (i)     Substantive aspect 56.     The Court reiterates that the provisions of the Convention do not bind a Contracting Party in relation to any act or fact which took place or any situation which ceased to exist before the date of the entry into force of the   Convention with respect to that Party; this is an established principle in the Court's case-law based on the general rule of international law (see, among other authorities, Šilih v. Slovenia [GC], no. 71463/01, § 140, 9   April 2009). 57.     In this connection the Court firstly notes that the Convention entered into force in respect of Croatia on 5 November 1997. Therefore, any complaints by the applicants asserting the responsibility of the Contracting State for factual events in 1991 are outside the Court's temporal jurisdiction. 58.     The Court notes that the applicants' respective husband and father was arrested by the Croatian police at the beginning of November 1991 and since then his whereabouts have remained unknown. The Court further notes that M.S. was declared dead as of 2 November 1996. The alleged substantive violation of Article 2 of the Convention therefore occurred prior to 5 November 1997, when the Convention entered into force in respect of Croatia. 59.     It follows that the complaint under the substantive aspect of Article 2 of the Convention is incompatible ratione temporis with the provisions of the Convention within the meaning of Article 35   §   3 and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35   §   4. (ii)     Procedural aspect 60.     In so far as any complaints are raised concerning acts or omissions of the Contracting State after 5 November 1997, the Court may take cognisance of them (see Varnava and Others v. Turkey [GC], nos. 16064/90, 16065/90, 16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and 16073/90, § 134, 18 September 2009). It notes in this respect that part of the applicants' claims relate to the situation pertaining after 5   November 1997, namely, the continuing failure to account for the fate and whereabouts of M.S. by providing an effective investigation. 61.     The Court further notes that M.S. was declared dead as of 2   November 1996. However, even where a missing person is declared dead, this does not dispose of the applicants' complaints concerning the lack of an effective investigation (see Varnava , cited above, §144). In this connection the Court refers to the principles established in paragraphs 145 and 148 of the Varnava judgment (cited above): “145.     The Court would recall that the procedural obligation to investigate under Article 2 where there has been an unlawful or suspicious death is triggered by, in most cases, the discovery of the body or the occurrence of death. Where disappearances in life-threatening circumstances are concerned, the procedural obligation to investigate can hardly come to an end on discovery of the body or the presumption of death; this merely casts light on one aspect of the fate of the missing person. An obligation to account for the disappearance and death, and to identify and prosecute any perpetrator of unlawful acts in that connection, will generally remain. ... 148.     It cannot therefore be said that a disappearance is, simply, an “instantaneous” act or event; the additional distinctive element of subsequent failure to account for the whereabouts and fate of the missing person gives rise to a continuing situation. Thus, the procedural obligation will, potentially, persist as long as the fate of the person is unaccounted for; the ongoing failure to provide the requisite investigation will be regarded as a continuing violation (see the fourth inter-State case, § 136). This is so, even where death may, eventually, be presumed.” 62.     As to the present case, the Court notes that the first steps aimed at ascertaining the fate of M.S. were taken on 17 December 1991 when the Ministry of the Interior sent an official letter to Otočac police station enquiring as to the whereabouts of M.S. (see paragraph 11 above). Before 5   November 1997 several police reports had been drawn up recording the circumstances of M.S.'s arrest, but no official investigation had been opened. 63.     Following a letter by the first applicant of 14 July 1999 calling for an official investigation, the first investigative measures were ordered by the Gospić County State Attorney's Office on 7 July 2000 when that Office asked the Otočac police to interview former police officer D.R. and former head of Otočac police station J.O. about the disappearance of M.S. (see paragraph 17 above). 64.     After that, various investigative steps were taken until 10 February 2005, when an investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court heard evidence from J.O. 65.     Thus, all relevant investigative steps, aimed at establishing the whereabouts of M.S., took place after 5 November 1997 when the Convention entered into force in respect of Croatia. It follows that all issues pertaining to the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention do fall under the Court's temporal jurisdiction. (b)     The applicants' victim status 66.     The Court firstly takes note of the applicants' complaint that their close relative was arrested by the Croatian police and then disappeared and that the investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and disappearance was not effective. The Court reiterates that the procedural aspect of Article   2 of the Convention in circumstances such as those in the present case in principle require an investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible. The essential purpose of such investigation is to secure the effective implementation of the domestic laws which protect the right to life and, in those cases involving State agents or bodies, to ensure their accountability for deaths occurring under their responsibility (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom , no.   46477/99, § 69, ECHR 2002 ‑ II). 67.     The Court has already held that a civil procedure undertaken on the initiative of an applicant which does not involve the identification or punishment of any alleged perpetrator cannot be taken into account in the assessment of the State's compliance with its procedural obligations under Article 2 of the Convention (see Hugh Jordan v. the United Kingdom , no.   24746/94, § 141, ECHR 2001 ‑ III (extracts)). 68.     As to the present case, the Court notes that by means of a civil action against the State the applicants did indeed obtain just satisfaction in connection with their sufferings caused by the arrest and subsequent disappearance of their close relative as well as the acknowledgement of the State's responsibility for the disappearance of M.S. Despite a positive outcome for the applicants in the form of a financial award, their civil action was not capable, without the benefit of the conclusions of a criminal investigation, of making any findings as to the identity of the perpetrators, and still less of establishing their responsibility (see, mutatis mutandis , Kaya v. Turkey , 19 February 1998, § 105, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998 ‑ I; Yaşa v. Turkey , 2 September 1998, § 74, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998 ‑ VI; and Shanaghan v. the United Kingdom , no. 37715/97, § 99, 4 May 2001). Furthermore, a Contracting State's obligation under the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention to conduct an investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible in cases of a person's death at the hands of State officials might be rendered illusory if an applicant were to cease being a victim in respect of complaints under those Articles only on the ground of an award of damages (see, mutatis mutandis , Isayeva and Others v. Russia , nos. 57947/00, 57948/00 and 57949/00, § 149, 24 February 2005) even where it is, as in the present case, accompanied by the acknowledgment of the State's responsibility. 69.     It follows that the applicants in the present case may still claim to be victims of the alleged violations of the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention and that the Government's objections in that respect must be dismissed. (c)     Compliance with the six-month rule 70.     As to the Government's objection concerning compliance with the six-month rule, the Court refers to the following principles established in Varnava (cited above): “158.     ...where a death has occurred, applicant relatives are expected to take steps to keep track of the investigation's progress, or lack thereof, and to lodge their applications with due expedition once they are, or should have become, aware of the lack of any effective criminal investigation ... 159.     Nonetheless it has been said that the six month time-limit does not apply as such to continuing situations ... 161.     ... Not all continuing situations are the same; the nature of the situation may be such that the passage of time affects what is at stake. In cases of disappearances, just as it is imperative that the relevant domestic authorities launch an investigation and take measures as soon as a person has disappeared in life-threatening circumstances, it is indispensable that the applicants, who are the relatives of missing persons, do not delay unduly in bringing a complaint about the ineffectiveness or lack of such investigation before the Court. With the lapse of time, memories of witnesses fade, witnesses may die or become untraceable, evidence deteriorates or ceases to exist, and the prospects that any effective investigation can be undertaken will increasingly diminish; and the Court's own examination and judgment may be deprived of meaningfulness and effectiveness. Accordingly, where disappearances are concerned, applicants cannot wait indefinitely before coming to Strasbourg. They must make proof of a certain amount of diligence and initiative and introduce their complaints without undue delay. What this involves is examined below. 162.     The Court would comment, firstly, that a distinction must be drawn with cases of unlawful or violent death. In those cases, there is generally a precise point in time at which death is known to have occurred and some basic facts are in the public domain. The lack of progress or ineffectiveness of an investigation will generally be more readily apparent. Accordingly the requirements of expedition may require an applicant to bring such a case before Strasbourg within a matter of months, or at most, depending on the circumstances, a very few years after events. In disappearance cases, where there is a state of ignorance and uncertainty and, by definition, a failure to account for what has happened, if not an appearance of deliberate concealment and obstruction on the part of some authorities, the situation is less clear-cut. It is more difficult for the relatives of the missing to assess what is happening, or what can be expected to happen. Allowances must be made for the uncertainty and confusion which frequently mark the aftermath of a disappearance. 163.     Secondly, the Court would take cognisance of the international materials on enforced disappearances. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance stipulates that any time-limit on the prosecution of disappearance offences should be of long duration proportionate to the seriousness of the offence, while the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court excludes any statute of limitations as regards the prosecution of international crimes against humanity, which includes enforced disappearances. Bearing in mind therefore the consensus that it should be possible to prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes even many years after the events, the Court considers that the serious nature of disappearances is such that the standard of expedition expected of the relatives cannot be rendered too rigorous in the context of Convention protection. 164.     Thirdly, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, it is best for the facts of cases to be investigated and issues to be resolved in so far as possible at the domestic level. It is in the interests of the applicant, and the efficacy of the Convention system, that the domestic authorities, who are best placed to do so, act to put right any alleged breaches of the Convention. 165.     Nonetheless, the Court considers that applications can be rejected as out of time in disappearance cases where there has been excessive or unexplained delay on the part of applicants once they have, or should have, become aware that no investigation has been instigated or that the investigation has lapsed into inaction or become ineffective and, in any of those eventualities, there is no immediate, realistic prospect of an effective investigation being provided in the future. Where there are initiatives being pursued in regard to a disappearance situation, applicants may reasonably await developments which could resolve crucial factual or legal issues. Indeed, as long as there is some meaningful contact between families and authorities concerning complaints and requests for information, or some indication, or realistic possibility, of progress in investigative measures, considerations of undue delay will not generally arise. However, where there has been a considerable lapse of time, and there have been significant delays and lulls in investigative activity, there will come a moment when the relatives must realise that no effective investigation has been, or will be provided. When this stage is reached will depend, unavoidably, on the circumstances of the particular case. 166.     In a complex disappearance situation such as the present, arising in a situation of international conflict, where it is alleged that there is a complete absence of any investigation or meaningful contact with the authorities, it may be expected that the relatives bring the case within, at most, several years of the incident. If there is an investigation of sorts, even if sporadic and plagued by problems, the relatives may reasonably wait some years longer until hope of progress being made has effectively evaporated. Where more than ten years has elapsed, the applicants would generally have to show convincingly that there was some ongoing, and concrete, advance being achieved to justify further delay in coming to Strasbourg. Stricter expectations would apply in cases where the applicants have direct domestic access to the investigative authorities.” 71.     As to the case at issue, the Court notes that the competent State Attorney's Office ordered the first investigative measures concerning the disappearance of M.S. on 7 July 2000, upon a letter by the first applicant of 14   July 1999. The present application was lodged with the Court on 22   February 2008. At that time the inquiry into the disappearance of the applicants' close relative conducted by the State Attorney's Office was pending, as it still is now. In that connection the Court notes that the last step in the inquiry was taken on 10 February 2005, when an investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court heard evidence from witness J.O. 72.     In February 2008, when the applicants submitted the present application with the Court, their constitutional complaint about the ineffectiveness of the inquiry was pending, as it still is now. Furthermore, in view of the long delays in the inquiry, which has now been pending for more than ten years, the fact that the applicants waited for some years before bringing their application to Strasbourg appears reasonable (see Varnava , cited above, § 166). 73.     The inquiry is still ongoing. It cannot therefore be said that the six-month time-limit expired at any time during that period. It follows that the Government's objection must be dismissed. Conclusion as to the admissibility 74.     The Court notes that the complaint under the procedural aspect of Article 2 is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible. B.     Merits 1.     The parties' submissions 75.     The applicants contended that their close relative had been arrested by the police and had subsequently disappeared. His body had never been found and the relevant State authorities had failed to establish the circumstances of his disappearance. The investigation into his disappearance had been conducted by the Otočac and Gospić authorities, which could not be regarded as independent because the officials of those authorities had been implicated in the events at issue. 76.     The Government argued that the national authorities had done everything they could in order to establish the circumstances of M.S.'s disappearance. 2.     The Court's assessment (a)     Alleged lack of an effective and prompt investigation 77.     The Court reiterates that, according to its case-law, the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2, read in conjunction with the State's general duty under Article 1 to “secure to everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention”, requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force. This obligation is not confined to cases where it has been established that the killing was caused by an agent of the State. Nor is it decisive whether members of the deceased's family or others have lodged a formal complaint about the killing with the competent investigation authority. The mere fact that the authorities were informed of the killing of an individual gives rise ipso facto to an obligation under Article 2 of the Convention to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death (see Tanrıkulu v. Turkey [GC], no. 23763/94, §§ 101 and 103,