A 53-year-old migrant named Ahmed Mahmoud Omar died at the Sarajevo University Hospital over the weekend after sustaining injuries at Usivak migrant camp in north-west of the country, his family told N1 on Monday.
One of Ahmed's four sons, Mohammad, said the family has been in Usivak for the past several months but that there was a conflict between the Pakistanis and Kurds staying at the camp, at the end of March, when his father stained injuries, not from another migrant, but allegedly from a security guard at the camp.
According to him, after he was injured, the family went through what he calls the first agony – when his mother tried to get the father to a hospital because he was vomiting blood and was unconscious, adding that the only health care facility that agreed to take him in was the Sarajevo University Hospital.
Mohammed claims that they had no information on his father's health condition for over a month and that they were told over the weekend that his father had died.
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Head of the International Organisation for Migrations in Bosnia, Peter Van der Auweaert said he could not comment on the case pending the investigation.
“Sarajevo Canton's Prosecution is conducting the investigation and they took statements from the witnesses – the families and other camp residents who participated in the fight. There are claims of security personnel also taking part in the fight and this information was forwarded to the Prosecution by the IOM employees, witnesses and the family of the deceased, as were other claims,” Van der Auweaert said adding that the IOM and their partners have zero-tolerance for migrants against migrants who are under their care, and if this information proves to be true – they will ask that the guard be immediately suspended.
They will ask that police be informed and that those migrants and family be involved in the filing of criminal charges against the perpetrator, he warned.
“I asked the Sarajevo police and judiciary to ensure a fair, effective and transparent investigation into the case, in accordance with the procedures and Bosnia's Criminal Code,” said Peter Van der Auweraert, Head of Mission of the IOM in Bosnia.
Sarajevo Canton's Prosecution confirmed for N1 that they are working on this case and that they ordered an autopsy to see what was the cause of death.
