Last week’s events at Bidnija are horrifying, to say the least. A person was violently murdered but we all know there are many other layers of meaning laid bare by the homicidal act.

We feel that the evil perpetrated affects us as a whole because the crime assaulted our values, our democracy and disturbs our human, civic and (where applicable) Christian conscience.

Our dignity has been trampled upon. Not only because a voice was silenced but also because a system, a perverse system, I would add, has given room for this to happen.

I am not referring first and foremost to state institutions, lawmakers or politicians. That would perhaps provide us with an easily-available scapegoat. I am referring to a structure of being, which condones a growing intolerance, unable to foster a peaceful and respectful exchange of ideas, resulting in an ever-increasing vertigo of violence, ranging from arguments ad hominem, where the opponent is ridiculed or personally attacked, to character assassinations up to the insanity of physically eliminating the opponent killing him brutally, preponderantly.

We ask for justice, not revenge. Delving even deeper in the precipice of violence is solely and ultimately the recipe of democratic suicide. Indeed, we shall only rest when justice is done, when the equilibrium is re-established. However, we’re not referring merely to the administration of punitive and retributive justice. What needs to be purged is not an element of society but society at large. I believe justice would be even better served should proactivity and decency return as core values of our democracy.

The omission of many and the monstrosity of some have led us to this dark hour in our history as a people and as a nation.