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WORLD NEWS Saturday 29 February 2020
Parents slam Serbia bill in chilling Historic Paris train station

'missing babies' cases evacuated due to nearby fire

By JOVANA GEC
Associated Press
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) —
For years, Mirjana Novok-
met has tried to find out
what happened to her first
child back in 1978.
Novokmet, only 19-years-
old at the time, was told at
a Belgrade clinic that her
baby boy was stillborn. She Firefighters walk past charred vehicles after a fire near the
wasn't allowed to see him, Gare de Lyon train station Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 in Paris.
and she has not been able Associated Press
to determine with certain- By ANGELA CHARLTON scooter near the train
ty why he died or where Associated Press station, and the flames
he is buried. More than 40 In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, Mirjana Novokmet PARIS (AP) — Police evac- quickly spread to other
speaks during a protest in front of the parliament building in
years later, Novokmet is still Belgrade, Serbia. uated an historic Paris vehicles nearby, a police
searching for the truth. For Associated Press train station on Friday af- official said. The official
her, the mystery surround- ter a fire engulfed multiple was not authorized to be
ing her baby's death can Justice Minister Cedomir bies from hospitals. At a vehicles and sent a large named publicly.
mean only one thing. Backovic told The Associat- protest earlier this week cloud of black smoke Authorities urged people
"I am certain that he is ed Press. "Whatever we did outside the parliament over the neighborhood. to avoid the area in east-
alive," she said in an inter- wouldn't be good enough." building in Belgrade, a few Police said the fire was ern Paris while emergency
view with The Associated The draft bill dealing with dozen parents demanded under control by nightfall workers fight the fire. Paris
Press. "I believe someone the disappearance of chil- that the bill be withdrawn, near Gare de Lyon train police said they have no
took him or sold him, within dren from Serbian birth clin- angry that it would allow station. At one point, the reports of injuries.
or outside the country." ics envisages that judges at for cases to dropped if they station’s landmark clock Tensions arose around a
Novokmet is not alone — four Serbian courts will be in seem unsolvable. tower was engulfed in concert by Congolese
hundreds of families in Ser- charge of the procedures "No mother will agree to smoke. rapper Fally Ipupa, amid
bia have voiced similar sus- in any specific case, while sell the truth about her Paris police said they ar- political tensions between
picions after being unable any investigative work will baby for 10,000 euros," No- rested 54 persons on the those for and against the
to collect their deceased be carried out by specially- vokmet said. Novokmet margins of a Congolese regime in the Democratic
children's medical records trained police officers. showed the AP an autopsy rapper’s concert at near- Republic of Congo. An
or locate their place of Where the fate of the miss- report for her baby that by Accorhotels Arena important community of
burial. ing babies cannot be de- appeared to have no of- concert hall, near the people from the African,
The chilling scandal made termined, families will get ficial stamp, along with a banks of the Seine River. French-speaking country
it to the European Court of compensation of up to report from a pathology Someone set fire to a lives in the Paris region. q
Human Rights, which ruled 10,000 euros ($10,800.) institute supposedly listing
against Serbia in 2013 de- Backovic said the idea is her baby's tissue samples
manding that authorities to introduce some order as someone else's.
create a mechanism to into the "chaos" that dates The Belgrade state funeral
provide answers to parents back as far as the 1960s company, which manages
in similar situations. and the era of the former the city cemeteries, has
As a result, Serbian lawmak- Yugoslavia — a former stated that it never regis-
ers are set to soon pass the Communist—run federa- tered a burial or crema-
long-awaited bill designed tion whose breakup cre- tion for a baby born in Jan.
to try to establish the de- ated seven new nations. 1978 bearing her surname,
tails of the cases in court While criminal action is a Novokmet said.
proceedings or offer com- likely cause in some in- Other cases bear striking
pensation when the facts stances, state negligence similarities, she insisted.
cannot be determined. also played a part, Backov- Hardly any of the parents
Praised by the authorities ic added. The Strasbourg- were allowed to see, name
as the right way forward, based court's ruling against or bury the babies who
the bill has been criticized Serbia said the state violat- were usually born on week-
by the parents' associations ed Zorica Jovanovic's rights ends or holidays and mostly
and independent experts when it did not provide to young mothers, she said.
who argue that it will serve credible information about Sometimes, parents were
to pay out the families rath- her child's death or burial. told records about their
er than establish the truth. The court initially gave Ser- children were destroyed in
In a last minute effort to ad- bia one year to set up a a flood or a fire.
dress the criticism, Prime mechanism to grant infor- "Names of certain doctors
Minister Ana Brnabic on Fri- mation to hundreds of other and certain registrars ap-
day evening announced families in similar situations. pear frequently and that is
changes to the bill that en- Critics of the proposed bill why we believe it was an
visage forming a joint com- insist it won't establish a organized criminal group,"
mission with the parents' strong enough legal ba- Novokmet added. "We
representatives to handle sis to uncover what they have been fighting this
the cases. believe was an organized battle for 17 years and the
"We are in a very unfortu- criminal enterprise that for state has turned a blind
nate situation," Assistant decades kidnapped ba- eye."q