Why this story matters:
In Republika Srpska, an entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the campaign for October elections and protests over the unresolved murder of David Dragičević have been unfolding side by side for months. The ruling party (SNSD) won. Željka Cvijanović, who has been the entity's prime minister in the past term, was elected to become its president.
This has left thousands of protestors bitter. A "change at the top" would mean a stronger chance that the truth about the murder will finally be revealed. Instead, power was solidified -- prominent opposition politicians even joined the ruling party block.
The hope of protestors has all but faded, but some keep reminding "the powers that be" they are still demanding answers.
Two protesters decided to speak up during Cvijanović's inauguration ceremony. One was an underage girl who came and shouted "Who killed David?". She was arrested on the spot. The police later stated that she posed a threat, because she was carrying a knife. This was reported on RTRS, the RS public TV channel.
Another was David Krnjeta, a 21-year-old who carried a sticker with the protest slogan "Justice for David". Asked to present his documents, he started running from the police. He was caught, thrown to the ground and, by his own testimony, repeatedly beaten during and after the arrest.
RTRS covered the whole ceremony in real time, but haven't said a single word about any of that.
Both incidents were equally documented by other media. Here, a policeman is seen ordering the journalist to turn away his camera (he replies "I can't do that. And you legally can not order me to do that").
For many, both the incident and the way it was (not) handled by the media in SNSD's orbit are a grim harbinger of what the next four years may bring.
Details from the story:
- Public television has been very productive in presenting anti-protest propaganda in the past year.
- This included smear campaigns against individual protestors and countless conspiracy theories about their "true overlords".
- The Srpska's police has been a steady partner in that campaign.
- On one occasion, it provided RTRS with personal data of "selected" protestors - breaking the law on personal data protection in the process.
- On another, they set up road blocks to prevent protestors from other cities from coming to Banja Luka.
- The media attacks on protestors particularly intensified on the eve of the elections, where conspiracy theories were put in motion to discourage protests.
- The excuse for road blocks was provided by fake stories about "busloads of armed hooligans" coming from Sarajevo to wreak havoc on the city.
