Vigil Held For Bosnian Baby Victim Connected To ID Number Issue

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Bosnians Hold Vigil For Baby Who Died Amid ID Debate

Hundreds of people have kept vigil in front of the Bosnian parliament to commemorate Berina Hamidovic, a three-month-old baby who died after failing to get timely surgery due to the lack of a passport.

The vigil in Sarajevo on June 17 followed days of nationwide protests over lawmakers' failure to agree on legislation for citizens' identity numbers, which has left newborn babies without passports and access to medical care.

Hamidovic's parents say the baby needed urgent surgery abroad, but they were delayed while trying to persuade Serbian border guards to let them enter Serbia.

The baby later died in a Belgrade hospital. Recently, another baby had to wait to travel to Germany for a stem-cell transplant because authorities could not assign her an ID number.

The protesters are calling their demonstrations a "baby-lution."


With reporting by Reuters