Delić demands Suljagić terminate employment of employee who abused residents, journalist from AJB attacked

(Patria) - Minister of Labor and Social Policy Adnan Delić, addressing a special press conference at the Pazarić Institute after the release of footage of resident abuse, stated that the reason for the address was the worst possible.

„I will always stand before the court of public opinion, but I will not take responsibility for what I am not competent for. We condemn every form of violence, especially such heinous violence against a person with a disability. As the minister responsible for overseeing the legality of the work of social protection institutions, I have some demands. My demand is that the employee who participated in this act be fired tomorrow morning, and we will request that the Institute file criminal charges against the employee and against those who filmed it but did nothing to prevent the violence.

We will do everything to ensure that such and similar events never happen again. We will contact the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take all steps to shed light on this event. We do not know when the recording was made, nor who participated, and we call on Al Jazeera and the journalist to be available to provide all information," said Delić.

He said it was regrettable that people lack the responsibility to publicly disclose such matters and instead hide.

"We have other social protection institutions, I believe there are some in other social protection institutions as well, and I encourage people to contact the relevant ministry so that we can take all measures," added Delić.

Director of the Pazarić Institute Samir Suljagić stated that he had received several reports that he could not investigate as director and had forwarded them to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office.

"Any information that reaches me, I will not pretend to be a prosecutor, I will forward it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Prosecutor's Office. As for disciplinary proceedings, a number of proceedings are underway. I have not decided to terminate employment so far. Now we have an explicit request from the Ministry and the management structure to decide on the termination of employment. And I think I should proceed that way," said Suljagić.

Delić called on the journalist from Al Jazeera Balkans to cooperate with the Prosecutor's Office and accused her of abusing the informal part of the meeting where she showed the minister the recording.

During one part of the press conference, in response to a question from the Al Jazeera Balkans journalist, both Delić and Suljagić literally accused her of misusing the recording by publishing it publicly without informing the competent investigative authorities. They answered some of her questions in raised tones, even refusing to provide answers and engaging in arguments.

During his address, Suljagić said, "do not expect the director, the minister, the president of the management board to sleep here."