The Conclusion

Based on the analysis of the official documents and the witnesses’ statements, it can be concluded that the entire event took place just as it is shown in this computer animation: Dragan Gagovic was travelling in his car on the regional road leading from Ustipraca. The road was very slippery due to it being partially covered with snow and ice. At the end of one curve to the right, Gagovic and the fice children noticed a roadblock, placed across the entire road and whose appearance reminded of a "hedge. Gagovic yelled out at the children to lie down on the floor of the car. He then slowed down, almost bringing the car to a stop in front of the roadblock, when suddenly, shots were heard coming from behind. Gagovic managed to bypass the "hedge" on the left side, but in the process, the front right tire was punctured. The vehicle then swerved to the right, first hitting a tree stump, then climbing onto the cliff, and finally falling back onto the road, but now overturned on its roof. Even though Dragan Gagovic died in the car, the children, by some miracle, were not injured. According to the witnesses, who had been prevented by SFOR units from crossing this part of the road during the attack, in both direction, at a distance of several hundred metres from the spot where this surprise attack occurred, the road was also blocked by trucks. This part of the road has a cliff on its right side, and on the left, there is a 300m canyon leading to the Drina River. In other words, Gagovic had nowhere to run, thus opening fire, especially from behind, was absolutely unnecessary. The children stated that SFOR soldiers hadn’t attempted to stop their car, and they first laid eyes on them when they were being pulled out of the car. There are no elements in this case to back the statement of the SFOR representative who said that Dragan Gagovic was killed in an act of self-defence because at that time, Gagovic was not endangering anybody. In other words, all given information points in one direction, and that is that the intention of the SFOR soldiers wasn’t to arrest Dragan Gagovic, but rather, to kill him.

On the other hand, this case shows how insolent and inhuman the SFOR unit of French soldiers and their commanders really are. If SFOR members knew exactly where Gagovic was coming from, where he was headed, and the exact time that he would reach the spot where the surprise attack took place, then they surely must have known that Dragan Gagovic wasn’t alone, but rather that he was driving a car full of children.