Gross abuse of human rights in BiH

Banja Luka, 28 December 2018 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has been monitoring the excessive use of force of police units, including riot police, which resulted in the Chapter’s report to the Public Prosecutor as of 28 December 2018.

The report referred to a brutal violation of the Penalty Code of the Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two entities, and several police laws. TI BiH has also led a coalition of NGOs in demanding independent monitoring by the BiH Ombudsman of the current situation in the Republika Srpska, including interviewing the victims of the police brutality.

Recent events in Banja Luka, the capital of the Republika Srpska, were spurred by the arrest of the parents of 21-year old David Dragicevic, who was murdered 280 days ago. The perpetrators of this crime remain at large and the authorities are making no efforts to-date to investigate the crime and bring those responsible to justice. A suspected police cover-up brought David Dragicevic’s parents daily to the streets of Banja Luka demanding that a proper investigation be launched. Their demands were only met by their unexplained arrest on the Christmas Day, 25 December 2018, which initiated massive public protests in Banja Luka, throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, and regionally in the neighboring countries. TI BiH led a coalition of NGOs calling on the authorities to uphold the rule of law and stop abusing the enforcement agencies. Any further misuse of police and prosecution will be seen as an additional deterioration of the rule of law, in a country that is already perceived by majority of its citizens, the European Commission and other multilateral agencies, as captured by nationalist partisan elites.