LGBT activist attacked in Sarajevo

UDIK

The Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) reported that their coordinator Edvin Kanka Cudic was attacked in Sarajevo on Tuesday because of his LGBT rights activism.

UDIK is among the NGO’s organising the first Pride Parade in Bosnia which is to take place in Sarajevo in September.

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The NGO said Kanka Cudic and another activist were attacked by four or five young men, some of whom may have been minors. They allegedly yelled homophobic insults at him.

“Following the verbal attack, the unidentified perpetrators attempted to enter a physical conflict with the activists, however, thanks to swift intervention by passersby the assault was prevented, after which the UDIK activists left the scene. The activists managed to photograph the attackers,” the NGO said.

It called upon city authorities to find the perpetrators and pšunish them accordingly so that similar cases do not happen in the future.

“We remind that the coordinator of UDIK, Edvin Kanka Cudic, expressed support for the organisers of the Pride Parade and pointed out the importance of that event for Bosnia’s society in an interview in April 2019, which sparked negative reactions, while the UDIK coordinator received a large number of threats containing clear hate speech and calls for him being targeted on social media,” it said.