Attempted Rape in Bogdanci, Four Days After the Killing of 17-Year-Old Biljana: a 34-Year-Old Held in Eight-Day Custody

On 7 November in Bogdanci, 34-year-old I.S., a resident of a village near Strumica, attempted to commit rape against a 22-year-old woman, also from a village near Strumica. That is what the police bulletin says, with all the dryness with which the Interior Ministry records the gravest things.

The Strumica Interior Affairs Sector, through the Gevgelija police department, filed a criminal complaint with the Gevgelija Basic Public Prosecutor's Office. The suspect was arrested, the public prosecutor was notified, and a judge of the Gevgelija Basic Court ordered eight days of custody. This time the institutions didn't wait months.

The date is what's frightening. Just four days earlier, on 3 November, 17-year-old Biljana was found near Bogdanci, killed and burned in a car. Her 21-year-old partner, according to information so far, then took his own life. Between 3 November and 7 November four days passed - enough for another man to decide to go after another young woman.

For I.S. the responsibility is personal, and a court will establish it. But there is one question no custody order can answer: how many women in small places like Bogdanci have somewhere to turn before, not after, someone tries to harm them?