The Interior Ministry of Bosnia’s Serb-majority entity has given up on legal proceedings against 16 people who stood accused of disturbing public order and peace in light of their protest in December 2018 over the controversial death of 21-year-old David Dragicevic, activists from the ‘Justice for David’ group said on Tuesday.
The activists, Ozern Perduv, Sofija Grmusa and Zaim Sibic, noted that police in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, had detained eight people who were not even part of the protest march on December 30, 2018, but were only sitting in cafes nearby. All those detained were kept in the police station for more than 12 hours, they said.
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“After that, a request was submitted for initiating misdemeanour proceedings to the Basic Court in Banja Luka against 16 people. The first and last hearing was held on November 28, 2019,” said Perduv, adding that the court concluded that the RS Interior Ministry was obliged to provide the defendants with the recordings proving the charges.
The Justice for David members said they received a decision from the Banja Luka Court last week which said that the RS Ministry gave up on the charges. They are now asking the Ministry to explain to the public what exactly happened on that day and why those people were detained and had to spend time in the police station if the police would not initiate legal proceedings against them.
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 whoever killed his son, numerous citizens have organised into the ‘Justice for David’ group and have been protesting at the central Krajina Square in Banja Luka for more than a year.
The protests culminated around the end of December 2018.
