Macedonia Probes Abuse of Blind Orphan Boy

The Ministry of Social Affairs said it was “thoroughly” investigating the case and that it had launched disciplinary measures against social workers in the town of Bitola who were in charge of assessing the boy, named Leon, whose age has not been revealed. 

“We will continue to follow this case with undivided attention. Social inspections will thoroughly check all the institutions in which children with obstacles to their development are being assessed, as well as the way they are treated, so that we do not have similar cases in the future,” the ministry said in a press statement on Tuesday.

There was widespread shock in Macedonia after chief ombudsman Ixhet Memeti revealed how the boy had been found tied up with rope in a room in the Banja Bansko rehabilitation centre for disabled people near the town of Strumica.

Memeti said that rehabilitation centre told the ombudsman’s office that the child had been tied up “for security reasons” and that “no one communicates with him, nor does he get the appropriate attention and care” because no one at the centre knows sign language.

Memeti blamed the Social Welfare Centre in Bitola, which was responsible for deciding where the orphan boy should be sent.

“Instead of an appropriate institution for people with seeing and hearing problems, the child has been put in this institute where he has been tied up with a rope,” he said.

The head of the Banja Bansko centre, Justina Gnoinska, denied allegations that the boy was ill-treated there, but admitted that should not have been sent there.

“Although the boy was not eligible for our institution, we treated him as our own child,” Gnoinska told media.

But the Macedonian Helsinki Committee...