Mother and Son Died of Hunger in Subotica

06 November 2006

Viktorija Vojnic-Hajduk and her son Ivan were found in their decrepit house in Subotica, several days after they both died of hunger, report the Belgrade based media.

Lines in front of Novi Sad soup kitchen

The press reports that the bodies of 78-year old Viktorija and her 57 year old son Ivan were discovered on October 31. The forensic experts estimate that the mother died one week, while the son died three days before. Also, the findings show that Ivan was in such a shape to not be able to report the death of his mother to anybody.

Quoting unofficial information, Politika daily newspaper reports that the coroner that completed the post mortem examination was shocked by the poor conditions of the bodies. Allegedly, the muscles were totally atrophied, indicating long exposure to extreme hunger.

The daily says the a note informing the Hajduks that they can receive meals at the Soup Kitchen starting November 1 was found on the front-yard door.

Soup kitchen

Vecernje novosti quotes a neighbour who said that Ivan and Viktorija never complained of hunger or sought help from the neighbours, and that Ivan told her when she last saw him that he has a lot of work with his mother.

Dragica Kljajic from Serbian Red Cross said to B92 that the Soup Kitchen didn�t work because of constant lack of funds.

"We are very concerned about the developments of the past week or so. The soup kitchen in Gornji Milanovac was closed, we have this tragedy in Subotica... We appeal to all public enterprises, private companies and local self-governments to assist this programme to the extent they are capable, so that we could go through the winter till we secure donations, which we expect and hope will arrive in about 20 days�, said Kljajic.

The Belgrade Social Welfare Centre has 70,000 registered users. The real number is actually bigger than that. Dragana Nedeljkovic, a lawyer employed at the Centre, said to B92 that Welfare Centres can help only if informed about such cases.

"We can�t help if nobody reports such cases. I appeal to the citizens to react and give us a call, so we can provide the necessary assistance. We can�t help what we don�t know�, said Nedeljkovic.

Welfare experts say that many citizens feel ashamed to ask for assistance in money or food. The Serbian Red Cross relies heavily, for that reason, on field reports about existing needs, prepared by volunteers. The Programme of Care for the Elderly includes 84 municipalities in Serbia.