Members of the ‘Justice for David’ group marched through the city of Banja Luka on Friday to the place where the body of 21-year-old David Dragicevic was found exactly 1,000 days ago, despite police in Bosnia’s semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity banning the peaceful march.
The activists are carrying a banner saying ‘1,000 days of covering up murder’.
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The lifeless body of Dragicevic was found at the mouth of the river Crkvena in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of the RS, on March 24, 2018.
The death of the young man was initially declared an accident, as an official pathologist said at a press conference the cause of death was likely drowning and that David had taken drugs.
The conference sparked protests, especially after 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, Davor Dragicevic, who believes police and prosecutors in the RS are hiding the killers, citizens have organised into the Justice for David group and have been organised a series of protests at Banja Luka’s main square.
“The RS Ministry of the Interior has banned a peaceful protest march under the pretext that ‘there is a real danger that the security of people and property would be endangered by holding a peaceful gathering, or that there would be a serious danger of violence or disturbance of public order,’ members of the Justice for David group said.
They said they appealed the ban but said they did not receive an answer from authorities within 24 hours.
