Police of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton committed a “grave criminal act” when it prevented Friday’s government convoy with migrants reaching an asylum centre, Security Minister Dragan Mektic said. The issue has meanwhile been resolved, but the Minister wants those responsible for the stopping of the buses to face justice.
The state Security Ministry had organized the transport of some 270 migrants, who lived in a downtown park in Sarajevo after crossing the border into Bosnia on their route towards Western Europe, toward an asylum centre in Salakovac, near the southern city of Mostar in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNK).
But Mostar police stopped the buses and and insisted they turn back to Sarajevo. Apart from the migrants, volunteers were also on board.
The buses have meanwhile arrived at the Salakovac refugee centre, but the developments that took place on that trip prompted the Security Minister to organize a press conference.
The Mostar police was informed of the migrant convoy a day earlier, the Security Minister said.
“A large number of police officers armed with long barrel weapons and several vehicles intercepted the buses which were accompanied by officials from the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs from Canton Sarajevo,” Mektic said.
“They intercepted them and, with the use of force, barred the buses from proceeding. They insisted for the buses to return,” he said, adding that the officers behaved in an “inhumane” way.
The Council of Ministers had declared the Salakovac facility a refugee centre already back in 2006, and it is run by state level institutions, the Minister said.
“They (the officers) say the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton Commissioner issued the order to prevent a lawful decision made by the institutions of Bosnia. He committed a grave criminal act. If he insisted for this to be done, the police officers were obligated to refuse the order,” Mektic said, adding that he gave orders for the State Prosecutors’ Office to be contacted, so that further action can be taken.
“I gave an order saying the migrants may not be returned, we have to do what the legal obligation of the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina is,” he said.
The situation on the ground was “unpleasant”, Mektic said.
“We have police officers from Sarajevo on one side and we have armed police officers of the HNK on the other side. This, what the (HNK) police is doing and what the commissioner ordered them to do, is illegal and unconstitutional,” he said.
The minister also said certain politicians want to abuse the migrant situation in the country for their political campaign, and to “take it out on these poor people” in a political way.
“These people are escaping from hell, their trip lasts for months. There are a lot very vulnerable categories of people on this route, unaccompanied children,” Mektic said.
Regardless of the fact that they are illegal migrants, those people deserve humane treatment, the minister said.
He repeated his earlier assertion that the current crisis is different than in 2014, as back then, the borders of the surrounding countries were open as opposed to now. He also reassured Bosnia's institutions have the migrant situation “absolutely” under control, and that the migrant inflow into the country is now “drastically reduced”.
