After two armed clashes in two days, Darko Babalj accuses the local SNSD authorities of turning the city into a 'safe haven for organized crime,' while the mayor fires back that it's pre-election manipulation.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Darko Babalj, said on Tuesday that the security situation in East Sarajevo increasingly resembles the chaos in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, notorious for brutal drug cartel wars. His statement came after two men were seriously wounded in armed street clashes in just two days.
"These days, the streets of East Sarajevo remind me of Mexico's Sinaloa, and instead of taking steps to protect the safety of citizens, officials are appearing on TV claiming that the security situation in East Sarajevo is at the highest level," said Babalj, a member of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS).
The series of incidents began on Sunday, August 2, 2026, when Kosta Pandurević was seriously wounded in a shooting on the street. Police suspect Đorđe Ždrale, the leader of one of the criminal clans known for serious crimes, of the attack. Pandurević was shot in a car that also contained a two-year-old child, who miraculously escaped injury.
Ždrale was released from prison in 2022 after serving a 20-year sentence for murder. He is currently on the run and is suspected to be hiding in Serbia. The very next day, on Monday, August 3, a new shooting in East Sarajevo wounded Davor Dabić, a person with a lengthy criminal record who is said to belong to a clan led by Darko Elez. That clan is in conflict with the group led by Ždrale.
Babalj used the security crisis to launch a direct attack on the local authorities, which are held by Milorad Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). He sharply criticized the mayor of East Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, and the police chief, Branislav Šehovac, claiming they are incapable of guaranteeing basic safety for citizens.
"This kind of East Sarajevo Police Administration, as led by Branimir Šehovac, has turned East Sarajevo into a safe haven for organized crime, and the shootings that have occurred over the past two days are a result of inaction and neglect of the security situation," Babalj stated.
Mayor Ćosić quickly fired back, saying the opposition is trying to gain political advantage from the violence ahead of elections in Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. "They are using this situation, two months before the elections in Republika Srpska and BiH, to exploit these clashes as something that would earn them points," said Ćosić, insisting that East Sarajevo is a "symbol of security" and that the police will do everything necessary to stop the war of criminal clans.
Ćosić shifted the blame for the spread of criminal groups onto the SDS, recalling the period when that party was in power in East Sarajevo.
