Sarajevo faces its most important test on Wednesday: Will authorities evict a former ARBiH fighter onto the street

The Government of the Federation of BiH faces its most important test on Wednesday. If the Service for Joint Affairs of the Bodies and Institutions of the Federation of BiH evicts a former fighter of the Army of the Republic of BiH from the studio apartment he received for use ten years ago, the authorities will incur a new loss of citizens' trust, who are already resentful due to the difficult economic situation in the country, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

The first-instance housing commission of the Service for Joint Affairs of the Bodies and Institutions of the FBiH decides whether to evict or allow Hajrudin Osmančević (60) to stay in the studio apartment on Josip Vancaš Street.

The commission will meet on Wednesday. Its chairman is Suvad Murto. Together with five commission members, whose names Patria will publish on Wednesday, they can destroy Osmančević's life or help him live the rest of his life with dignity.

Osmančević asks nothing from the state except this small room for use

The studio apartment on Sarajevo's Josip Vancaš Street was previously owned by the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Army of the Federation, and is now owned by the Government of the FBiH. Osmančević received it for use ten years ago. General Atif Dudaković personally ordered this, due to the merits Osmančević earned during the aggression against BiH.

- I am the only non-commissioned officer decorated with the golden "A", the highest recognition in military education. I am an IT specialist by profession, so my superiors assessed that I made an immeasurable contribution to the defense of the country – says Osmančević, who is also a 50% war military invalid, seriously wounded during the conflict.

Osmančević during the decoration ceremony

Osmančević is originally from Zenica. He spent more than twenty years working in the facilities of the Zenica Steelworks. When the war in BiH came, he joined the Army of the Republic of BiH.

The war destroyed his studio apartment in Zenica, and the studio apartment his parents had was sold by his brothers, sister, and himself to repay debts that had accumulated during the treatment of his sick parents.

Since last year, Osmančević has been threatened with eviction from the studio apartment, where he has lived alone since his wife's death two years ago.

He defended the state, he says, with body and soul. And he asks nothing in return from it, except that the authorities give him a small room to die with dignity, and not leave this world like a dog from the street, writes Patria.