New demonstrations for the Dragičević case announced in Banja Luka


After a night in custody, Davor Dragičević, father of the brutally murdered David Dragičević, was released today, announcing that his fight for the truth about his son death “is not over” and that he and the members of the Group “Justice for David” will go “to the end”.

“I will be in the square again today at the same time as before. I will never leave my child case to the criminals and murderers. I’m physically good, in the head (mentally) even better and they cannot do anything to harm me”, Dragičević said.

Suzana Radanović, the mother of David, also called citizens to peacefully and dignified gatherings, but warned that there are infiltrated provocateurs who want to provoke violence. She added that, according to her information, the police is ready to overreact and beat citizens gathered on peaceful demonstrations.

Group “Justice for David” said in the press release that the arrest and detention of their members is part of the repression that has been committed against them for a longer period.

“The removal of all the features that represented the sanctity and memory on David, the enormous concentration of special police forces in the streets of Banja Luka, had only one goal, which is to cause a revolt among the people and force them to cause incidents and attack police”, reads the press release.

RS Minister of Interior Affairs, Dragan Lukač, one of those whom Davor Dragičević considers as accomplice in the case of murder of his son David, said on a press conference that police forces did not use excessive force against citizens gathered at Tuesday night in Banja Luka downtown.

“For nine months, gatherings were held in Banja Luka. These events were illegal and without permission, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not want to prevent them because they were peaceful and dignified. It has all changed over the past few months”, Lukač said.

He emphasised that certain politicians used the “Justice for David” in a morbid way to achieve their political goals.

“Tuesday’s protest on the square was calm until opposition politicians led by Branislav Borenović, Adam Šukalo and Draško Stanivuković showed up and started attacking officials of Republika Srpska and the police”, Lukač stated.

He added that the “Justice for David” was also misused by the persons known to the police as perpetrators of criminal offences.

Lukač added that the police would ban any further gatherings and protests, if the organizers fail to get a valid license for that event.

Many politicians commented the events in Banja Luka and the police operation, but it is interesting that the members of the BiH Presidency had opposite opinions. Serb member, and actual Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, said that he is not satisfied with the long lasting activities of this case, but that the police forces did not break any law during the demonstrations in Banja Luka. Bosniak member of Presidency, Šefik Džaferović, said that the “Dragičević case” is followed by many controversies from the very beginning.

“As long as these controversies exist and until the answers are given to all questions, in my deep conviction, it is not legitimate to use the police against protesters who are not violent and who do not interfere with the other people’s normal lives”, Džaferović said.

The sharpest reaction came from Croat Member of the Presidency, Željko Komšić, who said that he is not surprised with events in Banja Luka, because the Republika Srpska police was involved in the Srebrenica genocide.

“The issue of the reform of police agencies in BiH should be restored and they must be to the service of citizens, not political parties and irresponsible persons”, Komšić stated./IBNA