Koštunica slams health institution report

Vojislav Kostunica says the government will set up a commission to establish the situation in specialized institutions. The prime minister also raised the issue of responsibility for fabricated accusations at Serbia’s expense contained within the Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) report. Kostunica slams health institution report The government will set up a special commission to draw up a report on the existing situation in social care institutions for persons with mental disabilities, said the prime minister in a statement. "Department ministers have informed me that numerous claims laid out in the report by the Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) are fake. Particularly tendentious and malevolent are the accusations that torture is used as a form of treatment for children, and that they are housed in children's concentration camps instead of social care institutions," said Kostunica. ”The government wants more light shed on all facts relating to the real situation in those specialized institutions, and will also raise the issue of responsibility for the fabricated accusations against Serbia presented in the 'Torture as Treatment' report,“ said Kostunica in his statement. "We are witnesses to systematic propaganda against Serbia, loaded with fascist overtones. This, in spite of the fact that the citizens of our country feel the deepest bitterness towards both fascism and fascists, who have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent members of our nation," it was said in the statement. "Now, they’ve decided it’s time to speak about camps for helpless children, and the moment they’ve chosen is no coincidence," said Kostunica, stressing that the government would confront such dark propaganda with all democratic and legal means. Earlier today, Labor and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajic has refuted claims that abuse exists in psychiatric facilities and institutions for the handicapped. After publication of the report on Wednesday, the minister said that while the situation was far from perfect in such institutions, no abuse of children had taken place, nor for that matter, inhumane treatment. Ljajic said that even though the report contained valid criticism, it was politically tinged and represented the start of a campaign. “This is an organized campaign. Firstly, the fact that this report was published last week throughout the international media, and then a week later here, before being sent out to ministries and the government, indicates to me that there is more to this than meets the eye,” Ljajic said. He maintained, however, that there was a degree of truth in the report, and that no one was going to shirk their responsibilities. Vojislav Kostunica (FoNet, archive)

Koštunica slams health institution report

The government will set up a special commission to draw up a report on the existing situation in social care institutions for persons with mental disabilities, said the prime minister in a statement.

"Department ministers have informed me that numerous claims laid out in the report by the Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) are fake. Particularly tendentious and malevolent are the accusations that torture is used as a form of treatment for children, and that they are housed in children's concentration camps instead of social care institutions," said Koštunica.

”The government wants more light shed on all facts relating to the real situation in those specialized institutions, and will also raise the issue of responsibility for the fabricated accusations against Serbia presented in the 'Torture as Treatment' report,“ said Koštunica in his statement.

"We are witnesses to systematic propaganda against Serbia, loaded with fascist overtones. This, in spite of the fact that the citizens of our country feel the deepest bitterness towards both fascism and fascists, who have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent members of our nation," it was said in the statement.

"Now, they’ve decided it’s time to speak about camps for helpless children, and the moment they’ve chosen is no coincidence," said Koštunica, stressing that the government would confront such dark propaganda with all democratic and legal means.

Earlier today, Labor and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajić has refuted claims that abuse exists in psychiatric facilities and institutions for the handicapped.

After publication of the report on Wednesday, the minister said that while the situation was far from perfect in such institutions, no abuse of children had taken place, nor for that matter, inhumane treatment.

Ljajić said that even though the report contained valid criticism, it was politically tinged and represented the start of a campaign.

“This is an organized campaign. Firstly, the fact that this report was published last week throughout the international media, and then a week later here, before being sent out to ministries and the government, indicates to me that there is more to this than meets the eye,” Ljajić said.

He maintained, however, that there was a degree of truth in the report, and that no one was going to shirk their responsibilities.