A 100-Metre Court Restraining Order Didn't Protect 17-Year-Old Biljana From Bogdanci

On paper, 17-year-old Biljana from Bogdanci was protected. On October 16 the court in Gevgelija issued interim measures for protection from domestic violence, and on October 19 the decision was served on 21-year-old Viktor Guntarov. Fifteen days later, she was dead.

The timeline is clear, and that's why it hurts. On September 30 her father reported to the police. The Centre for Social Work in Gevgelija filed a request for protective measures with the court. The six-month order banned Guntarov from harassing her, calling her, contacting her even indirectly, threatening her and coming within 100 metres of her - of her home and of the Bogdanci secondary school, where she studied.

The basic public prosecutor's office says that after the measures were imposed, there was no report that Guntarov had violated them. That's the sentence worth reading twice. The order existed, but a response would only have come if someone reported a breach.

On the evening of November 3, at around 6:40 pm, a resident of Bogdanci reported a burning car at the Ičeva Česma spot near Gorno Selo. Inside it the burned body of the girl was found, and next to the vehicle Guntarov's body. The prosecutors' initial indications point to a murder-suicide. An autopsy has been ordered, and investigators have secured CCTV footage.

According to the initial indications, this was Guntarov's doing - a man against whom there was already a report for endangering safety and a court order. It's not yet clear how, with the measures in force, he lured the girl into going with him.

But this is where the second part of the story begins, the one about the institutions. Is a restraining order just a document that gets served and filed away? Who was checking whether Guntarov was keeping 100 metres away? Did anyone ask Biljana, after October 19, whether she felt safe?

The autopsy will answer questions about that last evening. The question of why a court decision meant nothing has to be answered by the police, the Centre for Social Work and the prosecutors - publicly, with names and dates.