During yesterday’s protests in Sarajevo, held due to the triple murder in Gradacac, the Mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, announced 16 requests that will be addressed to the competent government institutions on behalf of the City of Sarajevo. As she said, the City of Sarajevo requires an urgent determination of the responsibility of police officers and holders of judicial functions, as well as adequate sanctioning in terms of any identified omissions and criminal liability of the mentioned persons, and reporting to the public about the actions taken and the results achieved.
She calls on competent entities to increase the capacity of safe houses for victims of violence/users of safe houses and to build new ones where there are none. In safe houses, in addition to physical protection, it is necessary to provide psychological support, legal assistance, and care for the child’s educational process. Karic points out that Gradacac does not have a safe house.
”At the same time, we ask the legislative bodies to promptly pass regulations that will effectively control the publication of content that promotes or incites violence,” explained the Mayor.
The city of Sarajevo demands a drastically stricter approach in case of repetition or escalation of violence, intensive work on timely risk assessment, and calling to account and sanctioning police officers in case of inadequate response to a case of violence.
Protests are being held in several other cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and the authorities in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS) have decided that August 16th will be a Day of Mourning in both BiH entities.
E.Dz.
