THE APPEAL OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BiH AGAINST THE COURT’S DECISION NOT TO GRANT CONSENT TO THE STATEMENT ON NON-INITIATION OF PROSECUTION OF SUZANA RADANOVIĆ, MOTHER OF THE VICTIM DAVID DRAGIČEVIĆ, DISMISSED

The Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Gordana Tadić, gave a statement on 16 July that no criminal prosecution of the witness-injured party Suzana Radanović would be initiated, so that the latter could fully testify about all the information she had obtained regarding the persons linked to the death of her son.

Working on checking all the circumstances surrounding the death of the young man David Dragičević in Banja Luka in March 2018, a need has arisen for the testimony of the witness-injured party Suzana Radanović. Over the past few years, while demanding truth about the death of her son through civic activities, the said witness has been exposed to various pressures and received threats that charges would be pressed against her and that court proceedings would be initiated against her.

In order for witness Suzana Radanović to be able to present without fear her entire knowledge about the said event, possible perpetrators and witnesses that she has obtained indirectly, as well as information from third parties, without exposing herself to the risk of criminal prosecution if the information obtained does not prove to be true, the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH Gordana Tadić, in accordance with the law, gave a statement that no criminal prosecution would be initiated against the said witness Suzana Radanović for the criminal offence of false reporting.

On 29 July, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision dismissing such a decision. The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina timely filed an appeal against the said decision for a significant violation of the provisions of the criminal procedure and violation of the right to access court, as part of the corpus of rights to a fair trial guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, which appeal was dismissed by the Court’s decision of 5 August this year.

Given the above circumstances, in the following period the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH will send a summons to Suzana Radanović to be interviewed as a witness-injured party.