Canton Sarajevo Assembly shields itself from citizens: Attendance at sessions must be announced and justified!

The Collegium of the Canton Sarajevo Assembly decided on Friday that citizens who wish to attend Assembly sessions must announce their arrival at least 24 hours before the session is held. This can be done via email or fax, with the application containing the person's first and last name as well as the reason for attendance, and they will, in accordance with spatial capacities, be provided a seat in the hall where the session is held. From this response, one can conclude that attendance at the session may also be denied due to „lack of space“, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

As stated in the explanation, the conclusion was „adopted for the purpose of ensuring the public nature of the Assembly's work and based on the Collegium's competencies in defining the manner of ensuring public access to its work.“ Likewise, it was stated that during the session in the Centar Municipality hall, only representatives of the media may be present in the gallery.

However, the question is what really lies behind this decision of the Assembly Collegium. It should not be forgotten that citizens have previously attended sessions of the Canton Sarajevo Assembly, and that was when topics important to citizens, their safety, health care… were being discussed.

We remind this same Assembly that in May 2016, citizens defending the “Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš” General Hospital from closure and merger with the University Clinical Center Sarajevo entered the session and unfurled a banner in the gallery reading „Who is risking our lives? #our hospitals# will not pass“ and threw several dozen leaflets into the assembly hall warning deputies about the behind-the-scenes games surrounding this hospital. The session was then interrupted, and the banner was torn by SDA deputy Fikret Prevljak. Likewise, instead of supporting the citizens, Prime Minister of Canton Sarajevo Elmedin Konaković used the moment to photograph the “disobedient” who were interrupting the session.

Citizens again attended an Assembly session a few months later, on October 18, dissatisfied with the security situation in Canton Sarajevo. The session was held seven days after the tragic deaths of two young female students who were hit by a car driven by Sanjin Sefić, who fled the scene and then left Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although arrested in Novi Sad, he has still not been extradited to the Bosnian judiciary.

At that time, students from the Faculty of Philosophy came to the session with white tape over their mouths, and after being denied the opportunity to address the deputies, they peacefully left the hall.

Therefore, we ask whether the decision of the Canton Sarajevo Assembly Collegium has other motives and whether they want to “protect themselves” from the citizens who elected them, whom they should represent and work in their interests.

In that same Assembly, the media and journalists themselves have been targeted by the prime minister, ministers, and deputies, so this kind of attitude towards citizens is not surprising.