Davor Dragicevic, the father of the deceased David Dragicevic, a 21-year-old youth from Banjaluka, addressed more than 10,000 gathered citizens in the Banjaluka Krajina square, Saturday evening, who came from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina to protest the controversial investigation into the death of his son.
He addressed the State and entity governments, the Republika Srpska entity Interior Ministry, the RS entity opposition parties and all other institutions from a platform called ‘David Dragicevic square’ by saying:
“Justice will be served. Justice for David, Justice for Dzenan, Danijela, all the children and all of us.”
This was the 104th gathering of citizens protesting the controversial death and the controversial handling of the case. According to N1’s reporter from the scene, more than 10,000 protesters gathered at the Krajina square.
“David Dragicevic was loved and looked after. He was a rapper, an artist and a poet. He was a student of two faculties, electrical engineering and an IT Academy. This gathering was made by you, criminals, murderers with your March 24 press conference,” Davor Dragicevic said.
The young man’s family claims that it is impossible that David’s death was “accidental” as was said during the first press conference on this case. Due to the public disturbance and constant protests caused by the case, the National Assembly of the RS formed a Board of Inquiry with the aim of identifying the relevant circumstances of this young man's death. After the Board concluded that there were elements for the suspicion that he could have been killed, the ruling coalition of delegates rejected the Board’s report saying that only by the competent prosecutor's office can qualify the case.
On Wednesday, the District Prosecutor's Office of Banjaluka submitted an order to conduct an investigation into the murder of Dragicevic against several unknown persons, and according to the details of the order, David Dragicevic “either ran away from the perpetrators and fell down the steep banks of the River Crkvena from a height of around 4.5 meters, or the perpetrators pushed him into the river from the banks when he drowned shortly after hitting the water.”
Davor Dragicevic believes that this is not true and he said his son was allegedly kidnapped, tortured and placed in the Crkvena river shortly before the body was found, but the prosecution claims that there is no evidence for these allegations, as the autopsy found that the young man had only minor bodily injuries prior to his death.
“President of the state, Prime Minister, opposition – if my son’s murder is not solved by October, there will be no election. Solve this murder right, not the way you claim it should be solved,” the father said.
He thanked all those who came to this gathering and added that Bosnia is not a private state, it is a state of all its citizens, regardless of their faith and nation