Nermin Sulejmanovic, who yesterday bloodied Gradacac, but also the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), killing three and injuring three people. His victims, except for the police officer, were not chosen randomly, they were targeted victims, it was revealed at the press conference held by the Minister for Human Rights of BiH Sevlid Hurtic, the Prime Minister of the Tuzla Canton (TC) Irfan Halilagic, and the Minister of the Internal Affairs of TC Hajrudin Mehanovic.
“If we don’t react, the question is who will be next”
“This is a great shame for our society. I received information that 12.000 people watched the live Instagram video, and 126 people liked it. They were happy watching someone else’s misfortune. We should be concerned as a society about where we are going and how far we will go. Please let’s reduce tensions and help as much as we can. In 2021 and 2022, 19 women were killed in femicide. Another murder is happening. We have the law, but we don’t have it properly. We have members who are not adequate to deal with people. I talked to psychologists today, this is the thing that caused fear among women to report what is happening in their family because you have a criminal who beat a woman and then killed her. What to do? I spoke with the Minister of Police and Social Work, and they can work to a certain extent, and the judiciary must finish this story. We must apply pressure. Recently, a woman was beaten for one salary, and now we have a murder. If we do not react, the question is who is next. I would ask the general public not to forget this after two days and wait for Monday to go out as if nothing happened. This can happen again in every family and city. I am asking all journalists – put pressure on us and demand that the law be changed, that the law on femicide is as rigorous as possible, that these persons never get out of prison again,” said Hurtic yesterday in Gradacac.
Prime Minister of TC Irfan Halilagic referred to the devastating fact that about a hundred people “liked” the video of the brutal torture and murder of a woman.
“You ask yourself, is it possible that there are people among us who support such a brutal liquidation? It is a societal problem for which no single individual can give the correct answer. This is a deep problem and I hope that, in addition to what is necessary and in addition to what we as representatives of the system are responsible for doing, we will begin to dig deeper into our society, families, the way of education, and the system of values that has prevailed and is not good and is one of the main causes of such people being treated as role models,” Halilagic stated.
“A prison sentence for a slap, 40 years for murder”
He announced the establishment of an anonymous hotline for cases of violence and said that “women must have more courage and go to the end and not withdraw their statements, and that the canton, the entities, and the state must stand behind that woman.”
“An amendment to the Criminal Code should be initiated, so that persons who abuse women receive higher penalties, so that one slap is punishable by 6 months or a year in prison, and murder by 40 years in prison. All of us as a state, people, and citizens should take greater responsibility, that when a neighbor hears the cry of another neighbor when someone hits her, to report it, and not to say that it is none of my business,” he added.
“The police could not illegally keep him in prison”
“Domestic violence was last documented a month ago at the Gradacac Police Station, when a measure was not ordered to prohibit access to the family because the woman, fearing for herself, withdrew her statement in court and the court did not judge that her life was in danger, so it did not determine measures. It’s a systemic error that someone has to fix. The police are often asked, to put it in jargon, why did you let a person of that caliber on the street? Should the police have illegally kept him in prison? It is known who reports, who prosecutes, and who condemns. With today’s live broadcast, we received potentially God knows how many similar characters who are eager for five minutes of fame and are ready to risk their lives and the lives of others. This should be regulated by state regulations,” Mehanovic said yesterday.
Relationship with victims
He pointed out that the woman killed by Sulejmanovic was not married to him, but that they had a child and that a request for marriage had been submitted. Two men, a father and a son who were also killed, had a relationship with Sulejmanovic, and that relationship is related to their daughter, that is, their sister who was wounded yesterday, and the court process related to their case is ongoing, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
