Bosnian Serb Assembly Rejects Doubt Cast Over 'Accidental' Death

Bosnian Serb lawmakers have thrown out a parliamentary committee report casting doubt on the official explanation for the 'accidental' death in March of a 21-year-old man who protesters say was murdered.

The report, by a committee of five MPs, four of whom were from opposition parties, concluded there was reasonable doubt to suspect that David Dragicevic had been murdered and called on the Prosecutor's Office of the Republika Srpska, the mainly Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to act.

Conflicting pathology reports and inconsistencies in police statements since Dragicevic's body was found in a shallow river in the main city of Banja Luka have triggered protests by Bosnian Serbs angry at what they see as police incompetence and indifference. Dragicevic's father has alleged a cover-up, something authorities have vehemently denied.

"The Prosecution and the relevant institutions did not respond to the task, not just in this case but in a whole series of previous cases," Committee chairman Branislav Borenovic of the opposition Party of Democratic Progress told the assembly.

But after a day of fierce debate, lawmakers from the Republika Srpska's ruling coalition late on Monday rejected the report of the Survey Committee, arguing that it was politicised and beyond the remit of the assembly.

They proposed a conclusion that prosecutors had made 'numerous omissions".

Dragicevic's body was found on March 24, six days after the student went missing. Police first said he most likely drowned. But the fact his body was covered in bruises stirred public suspicion.

Authorities agreed to conduct a second autopsy, which concluded the body had been in the river for two to four days, raising questions about what...