Davor Dragicevic, whose quest for the truth about the murder of his son has turned into the strongest anti-government protest the Bosnian Serb half of the country has ever seen, repeated in a Facebook video message on Friday that he fled the country because certain top officials want to "kill" him.
Dragicevic thanked his supporters for continuing to gather in downtown Banja Luka every evening.
“I want to greet all of the members of the Justice for David group who are still standing in Banja Luka for me, for mother, Suzana, and for my child. I am alive, I am healthy, I left my city and country,” he said.
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“I had to. Whoever wants to, can judge me, let them say what they want,” he added.
Where exactly Dragicevic is remains unknown.
Dragicevic believes authorities in Bosnia’s Serb-majority semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity are covering up the murder and protecting the killers of his 21-year-old son David. He staged daily protests since March last year, until Bosnian Serb authorities issued a warrant, accusing Dragicevic of endangering public safety.
But before he could be arrested, the defiant father fled the country.
He said that the warrant against him represents an act of “personal revenge” by RS Interior Minister Dragan Lukač, and Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), the party in power there and the Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency.
He accused them of trying to kill him or put him in prison.
“I will not allow that,” he said.
In the video message, Dragicevic also greeted Muriz Memic, another father seeking the truth about the controversial death of his son, but in the other semi-autonomous entity in Bosnia, the Federation (FBiH).
Dragicevic referred to Memic as his “brother.”
Dzenan Memic was also 21 years old when he died on February 15, 2016, as a result of grave wounds he suffered days earlier, on February 8, as he walked through Sarajevo’s Ilidza neighbourhood with his girlfriend.
Two people were accused of hitting him with their vehicle, but the Canton Court in Sarajevo released them, and another decision by the FBiH High Court about the ruling is pending.
Muriz Memic also believes that his son was killed, and suspects that authorities, most of all the judiciary, are hiding the perpetrators.
Dragicevic and Memic were often guests at each other’s protests and together appealed to international officials to help them in their quest.
The pain that connected them inspired people throughout divided Bosnia to stand together in solidarity with the two fathers.
“We are persistent and we will continue until the end. As long as the government is the way it is, as long as the Prosecutor's’ Office is as it is, I don’t trust them,” he said, adding that he didn’t trust authorities already from day one.
“I will never achieve justice in that country. I don’t need it for myself, I need justice for my child,” he said.
He said he will move David’s grave out of Bosnia, and that David’s mother has already secured a new place for it.
“You saw how much evidence Muriz Memic has, and I have even more. I am with you, and I will remain with you until I die. You are standing with me, I know, and thank you for standing there calmly and honourably,” Dragičević told his supporters who continue to gather every evening in front of a church in Banja Luka.
“EU countries have done nothing to protect us, we have nothing to prove to anybody,” he added.
Dragicevic called on citizens to go to Sarajevo on February 16, when a ‘Justice for Dzenan Memic’ protest is to take place.
