On Monday, the Supreme Court of Serbia imposed prison terms on the parents of a student who shot dead nine classmates and a security guard in a Belgrade elementary school last May. Serbian media reported about it.
Photo: SITA/AP, Darko Vojinovic
Relatives and friends of the victims react Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, after the verdict in the trial of the parents of a boy who killed 9 students and a security guard in a school shooting in 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia.
On May 3, 2023, a 13-year-old boy killed ten people with his father’s pistol on May 3, 2023, and injured five other students and a history teacher. Due to his young age, he could not be prosecuted for his crime and is placed in a psychiatric hospital.
Today, Vladimir Kecmanović was sentenced to 14 and a half years for crimes against public order and child neglect. The court sent his wife, Miljana Kecmanovičová, to prison for three years for child neglect and child abuse. The shooting instructor was sentenced to 15 months in prison for making a false statement, Tanjug reported.
According to the RTS station, the court, in front of which the families of the murdered children gathered today, stated that both parents had grossly neglected the psychological care of their son. In addition, the father did not have a properly secured weapon, and at the same time he took his son to the shooting range and taught him how to handle the weapon. The mother, in turn, forced her child to be the best at school.
The judgment is still invalid. The prosecutor said he would appeal against him.
The attack in Belgrade was one of the worst such incidents in Europe in the last 15 years. As a result, the Balkan country found itself in a deep shock, which was intensified by another mass murder committed just one day later. A 21-year-old youth killed nine people near the town of Mladenovac.
A pair of mass murders sparked mass demonstrations in Serbia last year. Their participants accused President Aleksandar Vucic and his government of inciting violence. In connection with the shooting at the school, the then Minister of Education Branko Ružić resigned.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
