Controls at hospital, social welfare center after triple murder: Could domestic violence have been prevented?

Photo: Facebook/I. G.

Citizens' Ombudsman Zoran Pasalic, on his own initiative, and based on information from the media that a person in Cacak is suspected of murdering three members of his family, initiated a procedure to check the legality and regularity of the work carried out by the General Hospital and the Center for Social Welfare in that city, as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

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The citizens' ombudsman is asking the hospital in Cacak to inform him within 15 days whether members of this family had previously reported any form of violence, whether this was stated in the doctors' conclusions and whether and when the doctors reported suspected violence to the competent institutions (the police, the Center, the prosecution).

The Center for Social Welfare Cacak must inform the ombudsman within 15 days whether they were aware of the situation in this family, whether and on what basis the family is in the records of the Center, whether there had been reports of violence in the past and which activities the Center undertook, in cooperation with other bodies, in order to provide adequate support and protection to potential victims of domestic violence.

The ombudsman is asking the Ministry of the Interior to inform him within 15 days about the actions taken in this case and possible previous reports of violence in this family, about the cooperation with the Center, the prosecutor's office and other bodies and the activities undertaken by the police in order to provide adequate support and protection to potential victims of domestic violence.

Bearing in mind the obligation of all state bodies to undertake activities and exchange information in order to protect the rights and freedoms of all citizens, the ombudsman, in the spirit of good cooperation, asked the Basic Court in Cacak to inform him whether some criminal proceedings were in progress against the person suspected of killing three family members, whether he had been convicted in the past, and whether security measures had been imposed against him.

(Telegraf.rs)