After the woman, whose video of urinating on the main road in Banja Luka went viral, was found dead, the Banja Luka police filed a criminal report against the person who took the video and the District Public Prosecutor’s Office is now analyzing the case. A woman was found dead after a series of posts on social media, where she was ridiculed. This unfortunate case has sparked a debate as to whether the recording was made without authorization.
The video quickly spread on social media and was published in numerous media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the region. It provoked numerous comments, and soon the identity of the woman who was filmed, who was found dead a few days after the video was published, became known to the public.
After the suicide, the public – which until then condemned urinating on a public road – began to demand the responsibility of the author of the recording. The key question is whether the recording was made without authorization and whether the responsibility of the author of the recording exists in this case.
Banja Luka lawyer Aleksandar Jokic says that the case is sensitive, but that, from the legal point of view, the author of the video is not responsible.
“The meaning of the criminal offense is that the recording is illegal if it is a private or personal file. But this is a recording that was created on a public surface where one person recorded another person committing a misdemeanor,” explains Jokic.
The Banja Luka Police Administration did not respond to questions regarding the manner in which the woman’s identity was discovered, as well as whether police officers played a role in discovering the identity.
Banja Luka journalists fear that the tragedy in which one life was lost will be misused to further restrict media freedom. Dejan Rakita, a journalist from Banja Luka, explained that in this case, no one is questioning the responsibility of the institutions “that did nothing to prevent the tragedy”, but that the author of the video will bear the responsibility.
He also believes that part of the public is hypocritical in this case because they first “fed” on the video and shared it on social media, but after the tragedy, “everyone would become generals after the battle”. Rakita believes that the authorities in Republika Srpska (RS) will use this tragedy to further restrict media freedom, such as the misused tragedy with a fatal outcome in Laktasi after “online” violence and the published humiliating video.
Psychologist Srdjan Puhalo says that bizarre things have become the main news on social media
“In the past, people didn’t have social media and such information had a limited reach in terms of space, time, and influence. Today, such information spreads like lightning through social media, and no one can stop it. And there the classic media, even portals, are powerless,” Puhalo believes, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
