As he was speaking to media, police in Bosnia’s Serb-majority region detained on Tuesday Ozren Perduv, one of the representatives of the ‘Justice for David’ group which has for more than two years been demanding that authorities solve the March 2018 murder of 21-year-old David Dragicevic.
The Justice for David group had announced a press conference at 6 pm and three of its members were supposed to give statements, but Banja Luka police surrounded Perduv at the main square and asked him to tell others who had gathered nearby to leave or else he would be detained.
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Perduv said he had nothing to do with the people who gathered nearby and was detained in front of reporters. According to Banja Luka police, Perduv was detained because he organised a gathering which was not reported to authorities in accordance with the law.
City authorities had banned gatherings at Banja Luka’s Krajina Square some time ago, after thousands occupied the square protesting against authorities for not solving the murder.
Police found the lifeless body of David Dragicevic, 21, in a river near Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Bosnia's Serb-majority region of Republika Srpska (RS), in March 2018.
A few days later, pathologist Zeljko Karan told the media that the cause of death was likely drowning and that Dragicevic had taken drugs.
The press conference sparked a series of protests, especially since another autopsy performed on David’s body showed a different time of death.
The case was later reclassified into murder.
Led by David’s father, who believes police and prosecutors in the semi-autonomous entity of Republika Srpska are protecting the killer of his son, numerous citizens have joined the ‘Justice for David’ group and organised a series of protests.
