Republika Srpska officials condemned the physical assault on a student of the Banja Luka Madrasa who was attacked on Monday and found injured near a river.
The student, from Janja, lives in a dormitory in Banja Luka and was attacked on Monday while walking to a shop for a snack during class. According to Samir Baćevac, a former deputy president of the Bijeljina City Assembly who visited the family, three young men intercepted the student and hit him, after which he remembers nothing. He was found hours later near the Vrbas river, about five kilometres from the attack site. He was taken to the University Clinical Center in Banja Luka, where doctors diagnosed head injuries, and discharged the next day. The Banja Luka Police Administration confirmed on November 2 that a minor had been reported missing and subsequently found, but did not mention the beating.
Nenad Stevandić, Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, condemned the assault, emphasizing that any form of violence is absolutely unacceptable regardless of motive or cause. "In coordination with the Islamic Community and the competent authorities of Republika Srpska, we support all actions aimed at identifying the causes and punishing those who attacked the student," Stevandić said. He added that relations between Serbs and Bosniaks in Banja Luka are at the highest possible level and must not be jeopardized. "We will always respond immediately, without hesitation or ulterior motives," he said. Željka Cvijanović, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, wrote on X: "I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on a student of the 'Reis Ibrahim ef. Maglajlić' Madrasa in Banja Luka." She expects the competent institutions to clarify all circumstances as soon as possible and bring those responsible to justice.
Radovan Kovačević condemned the attack on X in the strongest terms, expecting authorities to urgently find and punish those responsible. He added that an attack on any person in Republika Srpska is an attack on everyone and on Republika Srpska itself. Dragan Stanivuković wrote on X that Banja Luka is a city where there is no place for violence of any kind. He said the attack deserves the strongest condemnation and that the safety of every person, especially children, must be inviolable. He called on competent institutions to examine all circumstances as soon as possible and wished the student a quick recovery.
The attack occurred in Banja Luka, in Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which remains ethnically divided under the 1995 Dayton Agreement.
