Remember this? Exactly 26 years ago, on the morning of July 8th, Belgrade was shaken by the cold-blooded murder of Colonel Dragan Simić, known as Simke. On a parking lot on Save Kovačević street, in front of Kalenić market, two unmasked young men opened fire with a Heckler automatic weapon at Simke as he approached his white car. Although his friend managed to take cover, Simke was hit by multiple bullets, and one of the attackers fired a fatal shot to his head while he lay in a pool of blood. The killers fled in an Audi, which was later found burned near the Slavija hotel, while the two young men vanished without a trace.
Simke was a model policeman with a distinguished career fighting the toughest crimes, including solving bloody and sexual offenses, as well as investigating the assassinations of notorious criminals like Radovan Stojičić Badža and Zoran Todorović Kundak. His death remains unsolved, and the killers have never been found. After the crime, police blocked parts of Belgrade and thoroughly checked suspicious people and vehicles, but the trail went cold.
This tragedy still casts a shadow over Serbian police and justice. Why did the murder of one of the most important police officials remain unresolved? Is it just a failure of the investigation or something much deeper? Simke left behind two children, a son and a daughter, who still live with the burden of injustice. As Belgrade changes, this dark story reminds us of a time when justice was on hold and criminals were free. If you have your own thoughts on who and why killed Simke, or think it’s time to finally solve this mystery, feel free to drop a comment. Let the voice of justice not be silenced!
