

Bosnian police officers Photo: EPA

Bosnia is on high alert over a suspected killer linked to two murders in the Sarajevo area on February 5 and who has been on the run for almost a week. Police forces are intensifying their efforts to track him down.

Edin Gacic, 44, is the main suspect for the murder of Suad Sultanic, 39, from Konjic, nearby Sarajevo. The Sarajevo Canton Interior Ministry confirmed on Saturday that he is also the main suspect for the murder of a policeman whose body was found in Tarcin, a settlement near Sarajevo.

Gacic was jailed for 14 years for murder in 1991. During weekend prison leave in 2002, he killed his own mother. He was then jailed for 20 years. He was transferred before his sentence expired to the prison in Bihac, in northwest Bosnia.

Media reports say the prison administration in Bihac warned several institutions of the high risk of Gacic re-offending once he is released.

Nothing was done, however, and Gacic was duly released after serving most of his sentence. Media reports describe Gacic as the country’s most wanted fugitive ever.

There are 13 prisons in Bosnia, seven in the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat-dominated Federation entity and six in the mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska. There are two detention facilities in the Bosnian court system and the Brcko District.

Only two jails are specially designed to deal with mentally ill prisoners, however.

International reports say care and treatment programmes for prisoners with mental disorders and substance abuse issues are almost non-existent in Bosnia. Laws on the prison system are not well harmonised throughout the country, or aligned with EU standards.