Verdict against parents of Belgrade elementary school mass shooter - "huge preventative step"

Lawyer Snezana Dunjic said today that the retrial of the first-instance judgment passed against the parents of a boy who committed the massacre in the elementary school Vladislav Ribnikar in Belgrade on May 3, 2023 - if confirmed by the Appellate Court - is of crucial mportance for all futre steps taken in Serbia in similar cases - and also pointed out that this verdict is a huge step in terms of preventing similar cases from occurring again.

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"If this verdict is upheld and if the Appellate Court confirms it, in the sense that the criminal responsibility of Miljana and Vladimir Kecmanovic has been established for the offense under Article 193 of neglect and abuse of a minor - it is very important. I hope that such a tragedy will never happen again, but what is important is that with this verdict, a significant step is taken in terms of preventing one," she told Tanjug.

Commenting on the fact that the father, Vladimir Kecmanovic, was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison, and the mother, Miljana Kecmanovic, to two years and 11 months, Dunjic said that this verdict did not put an end to this proceeding, given that there are options for the Appellate Court to change it, based on appeals, and added that it is possible to open a new hearing before the Court, unless all facts have been fully established, as well as in order to to confirm the verdict.

Commenting on the court's finding that the minor shooter was "psychologically neglected, but not (criminally) insane" - Dunjic pointed out that assessments of his sanity were made at the time of the critical event, i.e., the May 2023 school massacre, which were carried out during civil proceedings and which showed that at one period during the commission of the crime, the boy was fully sane and aware of the consequences of what he had done.

"His behavior immediately before the event supports that, and also that he researched (online) the legal framework to conclude that by being outside the criminal legal responsibility (age), he was exempted from any sanction," she said of the shooter, who was just short of turning 14 before committing the crime - and therefore exempt from legal responsibility, according to Serbian law.

When asked whether the motive behind the Ribnikar elementary school massacre has been determined during this court procedure, and whether the families of the victims found out what the immediate trigger was, and whether there were, and how many warning signs  beforehand - Dunjic said that after over three years of legal proceeding, it has been established "completely clearly that there were signals that his behavior was unusual and that, both at school and at home, the parents may have done something so that the tragedy may have been prevented through therapeutic work."

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)