Dubrovnik school-leaver held in custody over flare: classmates claim he wanted to protect peers
A court has remanded a student from the Maritime School into investigative detention for up to 30 days on suspicion of attacking a police officer with a flare. Classmates and parents gathered outside the courthouse in his defence.
Support outside court: "He did not attack the police officer, he wanted to protect us"
Students from the Maritime School in Dubrovnik, together with parents and some teaching staff, gathered on Monday outside the County Court in Dubrovnik to express support for a classmate held in investigative detention, according to 24sata. Police are accusing the young man of attacking an official during a school-leaver parade — a norijade — and the court has remanded him in custody for up to 30 days.
The accused's classmates categorically reject the allegation that he intended to injure anyone. According to their account, the flare drifted among parade participants, and the school-leaver attempted to remove it so it would not injure those present.
"He wanted to protect himself and us. The police officer who interpreted that as an attack made a wrong assessment," one student said.
Multiple witnesses state that nobody saw him holding the flare before that moment, only at the moment he attempted to remove the pyrotechnic object. Classmate Luka Matošić told Dubrovački dnevnik that the detention is seriously damaging the young man's future.
"It is reducing his chances of continuing his education. He had very good and excellent grades, was one of the smarter students in the class and full of ambition," Matošić said.
Because of his time in detention, the young man, born in 2007, will not be able to take the state school-leaving examination or defend his final work.
One student also accused the police officer of using excessive force during arrest.
"He was brutal towards him, and he was not resisting. He grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the bus," the classmate stated.
The County Court in Dubrovnik confirmed that detention was ordered due to the danger of the offence being repeated. For the criminal offence of attacking an official, the law prescribes a prison sentence of one to eight years.
The classmates acknowledged that flares may not be an appropriate part of the celebration, but noted that norijade in previous years have been known to be far more dangerous. "It's been celebrated this way for years. We shouldn't break everything over it," they said.
Source: 24sata