No. 07-00-472/2024-02 date: 31.10.2024.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of Dr. AA from Kraljevo against Dr. BB from Vranje, due to discrimination based on age. The complaint stated that Dr. BB, at the session of the Executive Board of the Branch of the Dental Chamber of Serbia for Southeast Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija, held on April 16, 2024, stated in a raised tone: “… Dr. AA will turn 77 in 10 days and an example that he is our representative who was deleted from the APR in 2014 as the founder of medical practice. So if our brain can think at the level of a 77-year-old, and what Proffesor VV says, we are all home, we are all bye-bye.” In Dr. BB’s statement, it was stated that he simply agreed with the fact that Professor VV, a member of the Board of Directors of the Serbian Dental Chamber, said at the session that his colleague Dr. AA will turn 77 in ten days and that he has been deleted from the records of the Serbian Dental Chamber, but that everything else was taken out of the context of the heated discussion and that the allegations that he mentioned any of his personal characteristics are incorrect. During the procedure, it was determined that at the session of the Executive Board of the Branch of the Dental Chamber of Serbia for Southeast Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija on April 16, 2024, Dr. BB stated: ” Dr. AA will turn 77 in 10 days and an example that he is our representative who was deleted from the APR in 2014 as the founder of medical practice. So if our brain can think at the level of a 77-year-old, and what Proffesor VV says, we are all home, we are all bye-bye.” In this regard, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality gave the opinion that with this statement, Dr. BB discriminated against the complainant, violating the provisions of Article 12 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, which prohibits harassing and humiliating treatment. Dr. BB was recommended to apologize to the complainant for this statement at the next sessions of the Executive Board of the Branch of the Dental Chamber of Serbia for Southeast Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija, as well as not to violate legal regulations prohibiting discrimination within his regular business and activities.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković