Communicated on 14 January 2016

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 52577/15 Danica TODOROVIĆ and Nikola TODOROVIC against Croatia lodged on 19 October 2015

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicants, Ms Danica Todorović and Mr Nikola Todorovi ć , are Croatian nationals, who were born in 1954 and 1973 respectively and live in Sisak . They are represented before the Court by Mr L. Šušak , a lawyer practising in Zagreb.

The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.

The applicants ’ respective husband and father, N.T., was killed in 1991 in the village of Kinja č ka , near the town of Sisak , together with two other persons, all of them of Serbian ethnic origin, allegedly by Croatian soldiers.

In April 2012 the Serbian Community of Croatia lodged a criminal complaint with the Osijek State Attorney ’ s Office against F.G., a former prime minister of Croatia who was also the President of the Crisis Command of the Republic of Croatia and the main co-ordinator between the Sisak Crisis Command and the Crisis Command of the Croatian Government, on charges of war crimes against the civilian population. It was alleged that a hundred and thirty persons of Serbian ethnic origin had been killed in the broader area of the town of Sisak and that the Croatian authorities had carried out ethnic cleansing in 185 villages with a Serbian ethnic population in Western Slavonia. The name of N.T. figured on the list of victims.

It appears that the investigation into the above allegations is still pending.

COMPLAINTS

The applicants complain under the procedural aspect of Articles 2 and 14 of the Convention about the lack of an effective investigation into the killing of N.T. and alleged that the fact that he was killed only because of his Serbian ethnic origin was not taken into consideration.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Having regard to the procedural protection of the right to life (see paragraph 104 of Salman v. Turkey [GC], no. 21986/93, ECHR 2000-VII), has there been an investigation in the present case by the domestic authorities, complying with the requirements under Article 2 of the Convention?

2. Have the relevant authorities complied with their procedural obligation under Article 14 of the Convention to investigate whether there was any motive behind killings of the applicants ’ close relative, N.T., that might be related to his Serbian origin (see, mutatis mutandis , Å ečić v. Croatia , no. 40116/02, § 66, ECHR 2007 ‑ VI)?