Death of Dalibor Dragijević at the police station in Bor

Category: Violence against citizens

Period: from 6 Apr 2024

Outcome: Under investigation (as of 7 Oct 2026)

Dalibor Dragijević, from the village of Zlot near Bor, died in police custody on 7 April 2024, a day after he was brought in on suspicion of helping his brother hide the body of two-year-old Danka Ilić. The Interior Ministry said the death was natural, but according to the autopsy and the expert findings of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, it was violent, caused by blows inflicted all over his body. The Internal Control Sector failed to carry out the orders of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš for two and a half years. Then, in November 2026, eight officers of the Criminal Police Directorate were arrested on suspicion of torture.

Death in police custody

Dalibor Dragijević (40), from the village of Zlot near Bor, was taken to the police station in Bor on 6 April 2024 on suspicion of helping his brother, who was suspected of murdering two-year-old Danka Ilić, hide the girl's body. The following night, 7 April, he died in police custody.

The Interior Ministry said he had been taken ill and that the coroner had recorded a natural death.

Autopsy: a violent death

According to the autopsy record and an expert report by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, published in December 2024 by the weekly Radar, Dragijević's death was violent, caused by multiple contusions and bone fractures inflicted by blows. According to the same documents, the injuries covered his whole body and were inflicted continuously. Who inflicted them has not been established.

The Interior Ministry's statement that he died of natural causes was never corrected, and for months the family and their lawyer were denied access to the autopsy findings.

Investigation stalled

The case was transferred from Zaječar to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš, which as early as 29 April 2024 ordered the Interior Ministry's Internal Control Sector to gather information. More than two years later, the case was still at the pre-investigation stage. According to the prosecution, the Internal Control Sector did not act on its orders, asked for more time in July 2026 and had not responded by early October 2026.

In December 2024, Minister Ivica Dačić confirmed that the police officers who had questioned Dragijević had not been suspended. No one has been charged over his death.

Arrest of eight police officers

On the orders of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš, members of the Internal Control Sector arrested eight officers of the Criminal Police Directorate on 6 November 2026: seven from Belgrade and one from Nova Pazova. They are suspected of jointly inflicting a grievous bodily injury on Dragijević from which he died, in conjunction with ill-treatment and torture. They were questioned the following day and all of them presented a defence. The prosecutor asked a judge of the Higher Court in Niš to order their detention.

The prosecution said it had issued arrest orders before, but the Internal Control Sector had not acted on them. The Interior Ministry confirmed the arrests; four of those arrested have since moved to the Unit for the Protection of Certain Persons and Facilities.

Same pattern in the Danka Ilić case

According to the prosecution, the same pattern, with the SUK failing to act on orders from the Niš prosecutor's office, also applies to claims by the defendants in the Danka Ilić case that their confessions were beaten out of them; that case is being handled separately.

Participants

Bor Police Department: Brought Dragijević to the station in Bor; according to statements, police officers from Belgrade were with him at the time of his injuries (investigation and courts)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: Said the death was natural and did not correct this even when the autopsy showed he had been beaten; the police officers were not suspended (responsible)
Internal Control Sector of the Interior Ministry (MUP): According to the prosecution, for more than two years it did not act on the prosecutor's orders, including the orders to arrest the suspected police officers (responsible)
Bratislav Gašić: MP Slavica Radovanović demands that he be held accountable, as minister at the time, for the Interior Ministry's statement about a natural death (commented on the case)
Ivica Dačić: Confirmed that the police officers who questioned Dragijević had not been suspended and said there was no reason for a cover-up (commented on the case)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Zaječar: After a doctor reported that the death was violent, it asked for another prosecutor's office to take over the investigation (investigation and courts)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš: According to Radar, together with the police it kept the autopsy findings from the family, and it rejected requests for access to the case file (responsible)
Borica Mitić: She said internal control had not acted on the prosecutor's request and that no reply had come after the head was notified (investigation and courts)
Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Bor: Approved the detention of a man who spoke on TikTok about Dragijević's death, on suspicion of causing panic (responsible)
Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman): According to Vladica Ilić of the BCHR, it is refusing to give him information on the progress of the oversight procedure and is taking part in covering up the death (responsible)
Zoran Pašalić: According to Vladica Ilić of the BCHR, it is refusing to give him information on the progress of the oversight procedure and is taking part in covering up the death (responsible)
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights: Represents the family and is seeking access to the file; says access has not been granted for months and no investigation has been opened (oversight and the public)
Vladica Ilić: He said the Protector of Citizens is withholding information on the oversight procedure and, he claims, covering up, while the prosecution is holding the case without issuing an order (oversight and the public)
Slavica Radovanović: She said Gašić must be held accountable for the statement claiming a natural death, which she called false (oversight and the public)
Rodoljub Šabić: He said someone had knowingly used the statement to try to mislead the public and cover up a serious crime (oversight and the public)
Miroslav Paunović: As acting head, runs the Sector which, according to the prosecution, did not act on the prosecutor's orders, nor on the orders to arrest the police officers (responsible)
Criminal Police Directorate (UKP), Interior Ministry: Eight of its officers were arrested in 2026 on suspicion of torturing Dragijević and inflicting the injuries from which he died (responsible)

Victims and others harmed

Dalibor Dragijević