'Justice for David and all children of BiH' organizing an international conference

(Patria) - "Civic activism in the service of promoting the importance and establishing the real rule of law in BiH" is the theme of the international conference organized by the association "Justice for David and all children of BiH". The conference will be held on September 12, 2019, in the Conference Hall of VHS Ottakring in Vienna. The goal of this event is to insist on the criminal responsibility of all those who, by action and inaction, led to the obstruction of the investigation into the murder of David Dragičević.

If we consider that Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a member of the Council of Europe since 2002, when it ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, this document has been an integral part of its legal order for 17 years. As such, the convention is directly applicable and has priority over other laws.

Certainly, the most important question is what benefit citizens in BiH have from the guarantees it provides them. The "Memić" case in the judicial system of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the "Dragičević" case in Republika Srpska show that it is only a dead letter on paper in BiH because fundamental rights, such as the right to life, have been brutally violated. The question arises as to why EU member states passively observe this situation, instead of acting in a timely and much more concrete manner than before, which would lead to these and similar, as well as all future cases, being adequately investigated. 

Conference participants will have the opportunity to learn about the chronology of the "Dragičević" case with a focus on the controversial press conference, information about the Inquiry Committee, the activities of the police and the Prosecutor's Office, the ways in which protests were conducted in Banja Luka, and how institutions reacted.

Attendees will be informed in detail about the reporting of state media on the mentioned events, and all the ways in which the fundamental human rights of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been violated and belittled. They will also be informed about the controversial events of December 25 and 30, and the new legal regulations that the authorities in RS plan to introduce after these events. All events that followed up to the present day will be listed and described to the participants.

The association "Justice for David and all children of BiH" operates in Vienna, and some of its goals are: creating an institutional environment for the legally binding resolution of the murder of David Dragičević and all unsolved crimes in BiH, promoting the rule of law and advocating for the harmonization of BiH laws with the laws of the European Union, promoting civic activism, educating members of the Association about laws, citizens' rights, as well as the protection of human rights and freedoms, educating citizens about their rights to participate as citizens in changing the system so that it functions for the citizens themselves, cooperation with international organizations as well as organizations throughout the EU in order to realize the goals of the Association, raising public and societal awareness about civic activism and the importance of citizen participation in creating the system in which they live, promoting the right to access information important for citizens, carrying out all related activities in order to realize the goals of the Association.

The conference will be divided into three parts, so participants can choose the topic that interests them most – the legal aspect, the protest aspect, and the media aspect. During the panel discussion "(IM)dependence of the judiciary", participants will have the opportunity to get acquainted in detail with all the shortcomings in the investigation, the report of the inquiry committee, the non-reaction of the entire system, including the HJPC and the BiH Prosecutor's Office, with an emphasis on the meeting with EU ambassadors, the arrival of the European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn, then the arrival of Reinhard Priebe, a retired Director of the European Commission, and on changes to laws in Republika Srpska. The panel discussion dedicated to protests as a democratic means will allow participants to be more closely informed about the significance of protests as a civic revolt that took place in Banja Luka, the repression of authorities in order to suppress freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, all in order to conceal the responsibility of the authorities.

The role of media reporting and freedom of expression will be the topic of the third panel discussion. Participants will have the opportunity to talk with journalists who were also direct participants in the protests. How much did the media help/hinder, the dependence of the media on politics, the possibilities of objective reporting, the violation of media freedom by new laws, are some of the planned topics. Attention will also be drawn to fake news disseminated by regime media.