The scenes seen in the photos recently published by lawmaker Sabina Cudic, with the children of the 'Pazaric' home for care of mentally challenged patients tied to beds and other pieces of furniture, did not happen over the past year, manager Redzep Salic told N1, adding that such practice was never used after he took office.
“I cannot claim what had been done before I came here. If there's something I ordered, I am ready to sacrifice myself immediately,” he said.
The centre accommodating the patients, mostly children, with mental disabilities in Pazaric settlement near Sarajevo has been in the spotlight after MP Sabina Cudic unveiled the photos of the ‘Pazaric’ home residents being tied to beds and other pieces of furniture which, as she said, caused serious injuries and deteriorations to their mental health.
This triggered fierce reaction among the citizens of Sarajevo who gathered in a peaceful protest in front of the Federation (FBiH) entity Government on Thursday, raising their voice against the inadequate treatment of children.
Parents of mentally disabled children in this and other centres were also in the protesting crowd, speaking of their own, mostly bad, experience.
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Although the representatives of the protesters were set to meet the Government officials and discuss the issue, the meeting did not happen due to the absence of the Prime Minister.
The protests will resume every day at noon at the same location until the issue is solved, the protesters announced.
A day earlier, the FBiH Parliament failed to discuss the matter as initiated by MP Cudic and only formed a task force to investigate the situation in the ‘Pazaric’ home and the actions seen in the photos.
Nurfet Kismetovic, one of the parents whose child has been a resident of the ‘Pazaric’ home for two years, said his experience was rather bad.
“I have been warning, I was one of the more active parents as much as I was allowed to be. As a parent, I don't have a good experience, because I saw no progress with my child. I have been warning before that some things that are not clear to me, as a parent, are happening over there,” Kismetovic told N1.
“ I was there in 2018 and saw something. My child was tied over his stomach to the bed. I was told it was prevention, that they might get aggressive and that it has to be done like that. It was weird to me because I never noticed signs of aggression (with his child) in the family environment,” he said.
