Returnee's Torment: Ivan Perić Maltreated Razija Bise, a 100% Disabled Woman, for Years by Withholding Her Benefits

Razija Bise (67) is a first-category, 100% disabled individual, a returnee who came back to Stolac in a wheelchair. She was immobile until she managed to gather money from her modest means for a difficult and demanding surgery performed in Sarajevo by the late Prof. Dr. Safet Ćibo. After that surgery and the implantation of a plastic implant, Razija remained severely disabled, but with the help of orthopedic aids (crutches), she managed to get on her feet and move slowly, writes the Patria news agency.

As a disabled person with such a physical impairment, in 2009, her right to receive social assistance with the help of another person and the allowance for disability aids, which amounted to 330 marks, was suddenly revoked.

- That assistance was revoked. The subsequent review was supposed to be conducted at my home, but no one came, and I was excluded from exercising my right to financial compensation in the form of social assistance. This lasted for eight months. When I realized that I simply no longer existed, as if I didn't exist at all, I reacted towards the Center for Social Work in Stolac and its director, Ivan Perić. Perić transferred me to some employee at the Center who met me unpleasantly and in an aggressive manner began asking how I knew I was 100% disabled, Razija recounts.

This resident of Stolac then asked to be told what she needed to do to be informed that she had to submit a request for the issuance of a new decision on her disability in order to continue receiving financial assistance. However, Razija says that her request was not even considered, nor was it accepted. Every day she called from home, as she could not go to the Center for Social Work, and asked what was happening with her request and when she would have her rights restored.

- They lied to me, saying that my case was forwarded to Sarajevo to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, and misled me into believing that my case was still pending. Then I received a summons to go for a review, the second one, which I had to pay for myself, and when the doctor conducting the review saw the surgical scar and my condition, he told me: there's no need to look, everything is clear here, says Razija.

Following the instructions of director Ivan Perić, the maltreatment of this resident of Stolac continued at the Center for Social Work in Stolac. She requested a direct conversation with Perić, which he avoided, and his colleague Branko Komšo told her that she could find Perić in a casino.

- My son was with me, and we were looking for a solution so that we could start from the first step to restore my rights, which were revoked. They persistently told me that my request was not correct. Branko Komšo only took out some blank papers, and I became convinced that my case did not officially exist for them, and my money was going somewhere else, says Razija.

After a kind of maltreatment and humiliation, Ivan Perić decided to get involved in the case.

- I asked him, neighborly and in good faith, what was happening with my case and why they were lying to me that everything was waiting in Sarajevo, to which he cynically smiled... Branko Komšo, Perić's right-hand man, started cursing and insulting me, and Perić allowed it. After that, I decided to threaten them with a lawsuit, both Perić and Komšo, and I went home, still sick and almost immobile, still not knowing how to fight for my rights, Razija recounts.

Ivan Perić is also the president of the Municipal Election Commission of Stolac.

Perić Asked Razija's Husband to Drop the Lawsuit

Under the threat of facing a lawsuit, Perić pressured Razija by suggesting to her husband that Razija should drop the lawsuit. All of this happened after the current cantonal prosecutor Salko Demić, a prominent lawyer who was working as a notary in Stolac at the time, sent an official letter to the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Federation of BiH.

Faced with the possibility of criminal liability after the notary's letter, Perić promptly reinstated Razija's rights, and she began receiving social assistance, but a reduced amount compared to what she had before. Now, instead of the former 330 marks, it amounts to 265 marks.

- Perić lied and made false claims that he had paid me everything during the period I was without income, including paying for the review visits, which is a lie and which Perić did not do, which is why I will now seek his criminal responsibility, says Razija Bise.