Remembering the Hero of the Defense of Žepa: Avdo Palić Was Murdered from Behind

Colonel of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and commander of the defense of Žepa, Avdo Palić, was captured on July 27, 1995, by the assistant chief for security and intelligence of the VRS Main Staff, Zdravko Tolimir, and brought to the command post of General Ratko Mladić, writes the Patria news agency.

Over the next fifteen days, Palić was held in Rogatica, where he was interrogated by the chief of security of the VRS Main Staff, Ljubomir Beara, after which he was transferred to the garrison military prison Vanekov mlin in Bijeljina. From there, on the night of September 5 to 6, 1995, he was taken out by Mladić's personal escort, Dragomir Pećanac, and all trace of him was lost.

Palić's remains were exhumed from a mass grave in Vragolovi near Rogatica in November 2001, but were not identified until August 2009.

During negotiations on the evacuation of civilians from the so-called protected zone of Žepa on July 27, 1995, at the Ukrainian UNPROFOR camp in Bokšanica near Žepa, together with Palić, Mehmed Hajrić and Amir Imamović, members of the wartime Presidency of Žepa, were also cowardly captured and subsequently killed.

The location where Avdo Palić was murdered is unknown. According to autopsy findings, it was concluded that he was most likely killed by a gunshot to the head. It is presumed that he was shot from behind.

The Hague Verdict for Tolimir

In the Hague verdict against VRS General Zdravko Tolimir, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, the murder of Colonel Avdo Palić, as well as members of the wartime Presidency of Žepa, Mehmed Hajrić and Amir Imamović, after the evacuation of the Bosniak population from Žepa, was qualified as the crime of genocide.