The officers are suspected of involvement in the death of Dragijević, who died at a police station in Bor in April 2024 while being questioned in connection with the disappearance of two-year-old Danka Ilić.
Eight members of Serbia’s Criminal Police Directorate (UKP) have been arrested in connection with the death of Dalibor Dragijević, who died while in police custody in the town of Bor on April 7, 2024.
Dragijević had been detained as part of the investigation into the disappearance and suspected murder of two-year-old Danka Ilić.
Acting on the orders of a prosecutor from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Niš, officers from the Ministry of Interior’s Internal Control Sector arrested seven UKP officers from Belgrade — identified by the initials N.P., M.Љ., B.M., I.T., M.S., M.B. and Z.Ѓ. — as well as J.K. from Nova Pazova.
They are suspected of committing the criminal offense of aggravated bodily injury resulting in death, in connection with the offense of abuse and torture, allegedly acting as co-perpetrators.
According to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Niš, Dragijević died on April 7, 2024, while inside official premises of the Bor Police Department.
The suspects have been detained for up to 48 hours and are expected to be brought before prosecutors in Niš for questioning, together with the criminal complaint.
The investigation into Danka Ilić’s disappearance
Two-year-old Danka Ilić disappeared on March 26, 2024, in Banjско Polje, where she had been with her mother and brother.
Following days of searching and an investigation, two employees of the local water utility, Srđan Janković and Dejan Dragijević, reportedly confessed on April 4 to being involved in the child’s death. According to their initial statements, they struck the girl with a company vehicle, put her in the car and later disposed of her body at a landfill. Dejan Dragijević reportedly said that he had killed the child inside the vehicle.
Both men subsequently withdrew their confessions, claiming they had made them out of fear and alleging that they had been subjected to torture.
Radoslav Dragijević, Dejan’s father, was arrested on April 6, 2024, along with his brother Dalibor, in the village of Zlot near Bor. Dalibor died in police custody later that night.
In August 2026, Radoslav Dragijević was acquitted of charges that he had helped conceal Danka’s body.
Conflicting police statements and forensic findings
According to the Serbian investigative weekly Radar, eight UKP officers were with Dragijević during the final six hours of his life. The publication identified them as Milan Ljubenović, Nebojša Projović, Mihajlo Bajlović, Zdravko Đurić, Ivan Tesla, Jovan Kerkez, Martin Stojančov and Blagoje Manojlović. Their names correspond to the initials listed by the prosecutor’s office.
In statements given during the investigation, the officers reportedly said they had not noticed any injuries on Dragijević. In a statement to the Internal Control Sector on June 6, 2024, Stojančov explicitly denied that Dragijević had been injured, saying he had observed no injuries when the detainee was handed over to them at 9 p.m. on April 6.
However, those statements are reportedly at odds with the findings of forensic doctors from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Belgrade.
According to the medical findings cited by Radar, Dragijević had injuries across his body, including head injuries, multiple broken ribs and injuries to the groin area. The examination also reportedly documented extensive destruction of the soles of his feet.
Radar first reported these findings on December 10, 2024, in an article titled “Cover-Up of a Brutal Police Killing.” The weekly also reported that photographs taken at the scene showed numerous bruises and contusions.
Officers gave strikingly similar accounts
According to Radar, which said it had obtained an official police memorandum, the eight officers gave remarkably similar accounts of what happened after they took custody of Dragijević.
They said they initially drove him toward the Dubаšnica area and later to the cemetery in the village of Zlot. Their explanations were reportedly almost identical: Dragijević had been taking them from one location to another to show them where he had buried the girl.
After the searches, the officers said they returned him to the Bor police station at approximately 2:30 a.m. on April 7.
According to their accounts, around 20 minutes later Dragijević began feeling unwell. They said they took him to wash his face, after which he lost consciousness.
The officers then instructed personnel at the police station to call an ambulance. Emergency medical services arrived six minutes after the call, at 2:54 a.m.
The arrests mark a significant development in the investigation into Dragijević’s death, more than two years after he died in police custody. The criminal proceedings will now seek to establish what happened during his final hours and whether the arrested officers bear criminal responsibility.
