The remains of a 21-year-old Bosnian student whose unresolved death has inspired months of protests against an alleged police cover-up have been exhumed so he can be reburied in Austria.

Dozens of Bosnians gathered at a cemetery in the northern town of Banja Luka as workers in white protective suits pulled up the coffin with David Dragicevic's remains.

Dragicevic's mother lives in Austria. The parents, who are angry at Bosnian authorities for not having resolved his death last March, have said they want to rebury their son in Austria.

Police initially said Dragicevic died by suicide, but the family insist he was murdered.

Months of demonstrations have also reflected popular discontent over corruption and unemployment in the Balkan nation long after the end of a devastating 1992-95 war.