Boris Marjanovic, the mayor of central Bosnian town of Vitez, said he was shocked by the information about the latest suicide in Jardol – the fourth case of a minor committing suicide in this village since 2021 to this day. “And each of them was a surprise,” said Marjanovic, speaking to N1. A local priest deems it is all a consequence of the "devil's tactic."

“As a community, we are deeply disturbed by these events. I am relatively often in the field, exactly in that area. It came as a surprise to everyone,” said the mayor, a day after N1 brought up the story about mysterious suicides in the area.

According to Marjanovic, all the kids were from “decent families,” and he learned about the latest accident from media.

Central Bosnia Canton (SBK) Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement to N1 that two of four suicides took place in the first eight months of this year. Two other cases of minors killing themselves were reported in 2021 and 2022, one each year.

Mysterious suicides of four Vitez teens over the past two years

The police said they were still investigating the cases.

Boris Marjanović (N1)

The mayor noted that he was at disposal to the parents and encouraged the investigation.

“It would be the best if we managed to find the causes,” he stressed, adding that this is something that needs to be talked about as there is no guarantee it will not happen again if something is not done to prevent it.

According to him, the institutions in charge are doing their work. This includes the Centre for Mental Health, the Social Welfare Centre, schools.

“We are at disposal for all the activities that would educate and give a positive thinking in the community,” he said.

The SBK Prosecutor’s Office told N1 that they are doing everything in their power to solve these cases.

“We would like to inform you that the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of the Central Bosnia Canton, as the body in charge of detecting and prosecuting perpetrators of criminal offences, determines and assesses whether those are criminal offences through the investigation of information – hearing of witnesses and taking other measures and actions provided for by law in each specific case, and depending on the determined state we take further steps in such cases,” they said.

Some of the locals said they feared for their children and urged the institutions to solve the problem due to the harmful reporting of some local media outlets.

A local priest, Velimir Bavrka, expressed his own view of the situation.

“The world is in chaos. This is happening for one reason – because we distanced from the Creator. When a child leaves mother and father, it is in danger. We distanced from the values, what is promoted today is a sin. We no longer notice sins, we are approving it,” said Bavrka.

He deems that that there is a lack of dialogue in families, and that this is a consequence of absence of both parents. A mother needs to stay home, the priest noted.

Velimir Bavrka (N1)

“The state made it so that mothers need to work. I think women should not work, a mother must stay at home. In order for a mother to stay at home, the state must enable a father to get a higher wage,” the priest suggested.

“It is all devil's tactic – let them both work so that children have no one to talk with, no prayers at home, no dialogue. When there is no dialogue, children are left to various influences,” he added.