Along with economic difficulties, a significant increase in the prices of basic foodstuffs, BH citizens also witnessed an increase in cases of violence against women, horrific murders and traffic accidents, and the year was also marked by events on the political scene.
At the end of January, the new convocation of the Council of Ministers at the state level took office, with the support of the ruling coalition consisting of SNSD, HDZ BiH and the Troika parties (SDP, NiP, Our Party).
In February 2023, numerous humanitarian organizations launched significant actions to help the people of Turkey and Syria affected by the earthquake. A large number of BiH responded to the call for help.
The appointment of the Government of the Federation of BiH was confirmed on April 28, 2023 at the session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH. On the same day, hundreds of citizens came out to protest against the appointment of the new Government of that entity, as well as because of the imposed decision of the high representative Christian Schmidt on, as he said, the unblocking of the authorities in FBiH.
All legislative and executive bodies at the state and entity level were formed by May 2023.
During 2023, a series of peaceful protests were held in front of the headquarters of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), where citizens demanded the withdrawal of Christian Schmidt’s decisions.
The last year in BiH was also marked by a terrible traffic accident that happened on May 26, 2023. Then the young doctor Azra Spahić lost her life, and later her colleague Alma Suljić succumbed to her injuries. Immediately after the traffic accident, Armin Berberović was arrested.
On August 11, the public in BiH and the region was shocked by the news of the murder in Gradačac. On that day, Nermin Sulejmanović killed his unmarried wife, Nizama Hećimović, in front of their minor child, and he broadcast it all live on social networks. He later wounded a police officer and then killed Denis and Cengiz Onder and wounded Harisa Onder. The killer then committed suicide.
In the midst of increasing cases of femicide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, concerned citizens, women’s activist formal and informal groups organized protests across the country on October 11, under the slogan “None more”.
A month later, BH society witnessed another case of femicide. The murder took place on November 13 in the apartment in Sarajevo where Emira Maslan from Goražde lived. She was killed in the Alipašino Polje neighborhood of Sarajevo by her unmarried ex-husband, Anel Bećirović, who then fled to his apartment, where he barricaded himself together with their four-year-old son. Bećirović is currently in custody.
On the 16th of October this year, the trial of the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity RS Milorad Dodik and Acting Director of the Official Gazette of the RS Miloš Lukić began.
The past 12 months were also marked by the arrests of several BiH political officials and initiation of court proceedings against them.
The year 2023 was also marked by the visits of regional and world officials to BiH. The heads of Italian and Austrian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani and Aleksander Shallenberg, paid an official visit to BiH together on March 10, and the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, on March 13. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited BiH on May 22.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived on an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 13. In July, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama visited BiH.
At the end of October, thousands of citizens throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina responded to the call of the Palestinian community in BiH for a rally for peace and support for the Palestinian people.
At the beginning of November, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Bosnia and Herzegovina. The President of the Turkish Parliament, Numan Kurtulmus, visited on November 2, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Sarajevo on November 20.
