A group in Bosnia that claims to expose paedophiles – and posts footage of its “gentle conversations” with alleged wrongdoers online – has gained a significant social media following.
Members of Organisation Panther in Bosnia’s Capital, Sarajevo. Photo: Facebook/Organizacija Panter.
Posing as underage teenagers online, a group of young vigilantes from Bosnia and Herzegovina has been luring men to meet-up spots all over the country for what it calls “a gentle conversation”.
Calling itself Organisation Panther (Organizacija Panter), the group records its actions of exposing alleged predators and paedophiles online and posts them on social media.
It has gained a significant social media following of more than 150,000 people across different channels, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Telegram.
The group started publishing videos at the end of October. The videos, seen by BIRN, show the group forcing men to admit that they are paedophiles and that they came to meet up with a teenager. In some videos, the group cuts the men’s hair while forcing them to call their families to confess their alleged misdeeds.
The Panthers did not reply to BIRN’s request for an interview. However, in one of their few media appearances, on Bosnian Face TV, the group claimed to have “5,000-6,000 members all over the country”. BIRN could not independently verify these figures.
While the content of the videos might disturb some, the group describes its methods as “gentle petting”, intended to “teach a lesson”.
The group also says that usually the parents or friends of a child reach out and point out an alleged predator on social media, after which the group sends a “friend” or “follow” request, waiting for the communication to start.
So far, the group has posted 17 videos on YouTube exposing eight alleged paedophiles. The videos have more than 2.5 million views on this social media platform alone.
Asked by the TV host if the group notifies the police about the men it has exposed, the group said that “everyone supports their work” – and the group’s followers are the ones that forward reports to the police.
Besides sharing videos on social media, the group shares information on the alleged paedophiles and predators in a Telegram group, which gives more details and evidence of the conversations the group had with them.
The group started by helping abused animals, which remains a core part of its activities. During the October 2024 floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the group went to flooded areas and rescued animals while helping with clean-up operations at the same time.
“We also help victims of domestic violence that reach out to us, we have a chat with them and we solve the problem,” the group said in the interview on Face TV.
Police in Bosnia’s Federation entity told BIRN that they cannot provide details on any investigations into Organisation Panther, or the alleged paedophiles it has exposed.
Public interest in the topic of paedophilia has increased since September, when news broke that a well-known actor, Moamer Kasumovic, had been sentenced to one year in prison for committing lewd acts with a minor in 2021.
Kasumovic did not serve a single day of the sentence, as he had opted to pay a substitute fine of 100 Bosnian marks, or some 52 euros, per day of jail time.
After paying 36,000 Bosnian marks, or around 18,400 euros, Kasumovic continued working in Sarajevo. After the story broke in mid-September, he lost all his TV roles.
The law in Bosnia says prison terms of up to one year can be replaced with fines. That has prompted a petition to change the law, so that those sentenced for rape, paedophilia or lewd acts will not be able to pay instead of serving prison terms.