The Municipal Court in Sarajevo ordered a one-month detention for Amel Alihodžić from Zenica, who is suspected of luring children to satisfy sexual needs, attempting to exploit a child for pornography, and introducing a child to pornographic content. The case reopens the issue of the growing danger of pedophilia in the country, while the public hears about such cases more and more often, but harsher punishments still rarely follow.
A large number of cases of pedophilia or attempts at these heinous crimes pass under the radar because they remain unreported. Lawyer Adna Dobojlić believes that, compared to before, this scourge is being talked about more, but much more is needed.
“The focus should be placed on the group of these criminal offenses prescribed by the FBiH Criminal Code and I think that much more can be done. We have periodic reports on individual cases, however, we do not have information on how many cases there are, how many are being investigated, how many special investigative measures are being applied to detect such crimes,” said lawyer Adna Dobojlić.
“Regardless of the amendments to the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that tighten the penal policy for perpetrators and make it impossible to redeem the sentence, they still remain mild and inconsistent with the consequences. Chapter XIX of this law defines all criminal offenses related to the exploitation of children under the age of 15 and older than 15 years, and the range of penalties is from six months to 12 years, that is, at least 10 years, even if the death of a child occurred as a result of some of these offenses. Although the penalties are still insufficient, a step forward has been made”, Lana Prlić, a representative in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament (SDP) and one of the initiators of the changes, pointed out and added:
“We all remember the case of Muamer Kasumović, after that there were amendments to the Criminal Code, and before that case, which was buzzing not only the entire country, but also the region, the most people asked how it was possible that a prison sentence could be redeemed, for such crimes, which was the case in his case. The law at that moment stipulated that the sentence was from six months to three years, that is, from three months to five years in prison.”
Not even the Registry of Pedophiles deterred the perpetrators from these heinous acts. In the Republic of Srpska, it has been in force since 2018, and about 250 persons convicted of sexual abuse and exploitation of children are permanently registered in it. However, even after a year since it saw the light of day in the FBiH, the number of persons registered in the Register of Pedophiles in the FBiH remains closed to the public.
The latest cases of pedophilia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an emphasis on the last one – that of Amel Alihodžić in Zenica, raise the question of how much the competent institutions deal with the processing of such cases and who is the weakest link here.
We also asked the citizens of Sarajevo how satisfied they are with their work:
“Whoever has a brain in his head must worry. Oh no, no, no, the institutions don’t do anything”, “I worry a lot, believe me. I cringe when I hear something like this. Horror, I hope this law will be a little stricter for people like them. The punishments are too light, it should be 10 times more”, “I think it’s a very worrying thing. I’m a little disgusted that there are no protests in Sarajevo about it”.
And many people are also disgusted by the fact that judicial authorities, quite often, when processing these cases, emphasize parents who are trying to protect their children by taking over communication with pedophiles. Is that really so, we ask the profession.
“Each specific case should be considered and the circumstances discussed. What is important, if special investigative actions are applied, is that there is no enticement to commit a criminal offense, some investigators who work under special investigative actions. These other situations can also be justified, maybe the parents want to check something and communicate, therefore, everything is about a specific case,” emphasized Dobojlić.
“I know that it is difficult and that we have all lost trust, especially in the last few days with these unpleasant events, but really, this morning I would instruct all children, all parents, all citizens, all victims to report especially cases like this, but also human trafficking and any form of abuse on the web platform sikgurodijete.ba, the Center for Safe Internet in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which operates in Sarajevo, or via the free phone line 0800 22323,” said Amela Efendić, director of the Center for Safe Internet.
Why trust in institutions is lost is not accidental, given that some representatives of judicial practice have previously indicated that there is a lobby, made up of individuals in police and judicial institutions, but also psychologists and experts, which protects child abusers, including pedophiles. They support their thesis with claims that for some of them, like Moamer Kasumović, there were not even court announcements, writes N1 BiH.
