CHILLING TESTIMONY OF BELGRADE SCHOOL SHOOTER: Boy undermines father's defense, speaks about psychopaths!

The retrial of Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanovic - the parents of the boy who in 2023 committed the massacre at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in Belgrade, killing 10 people - is ongoing, and the juvenile perpetrator (who was just under 14 when the mass shooting took place) testified yesterday at the Special Court in Belgrade. The proceedings lasted five hours.

Behind closed doors, the boy revealed shocking details about the motives of the crime, but also provided an unexpected twist, compared to his previous statements.

Rigorous security measures and "operation umbrella"

The process of transporting the boy from a psychiatric institution where he is being held began early in the morning with strong security measures in place. Around 07:30, strong police forces and plainclothes inspectors blocked the approaches to the clinic. At 08:00, the boy was escorted into an ambulance. In order to prevent anyone from taking photos, the police used umbrellas as screens, while the boy wore a hat. A similar scene repeated as he was returning from the court, when he ran back inside the clinic without a mask and hat, his head held down.

"If I didn't have my father's pistols, I wouldn't have done this"

During the testimony, the boy directly blamed his father for making the weapons available to him, which seriously undermined the defense of the father, Vladimir Kecmanovic.

"If I didn't have my father's pistols, I wouldn't have done this," the boy said repeatedly, confirming that he found them in the parents' bedroom without any trouble.

He added that he took the pistols two days before the massacre, and that he learned to handle weapons at a shooting range where his father was taking him. When asked why he disassembled the pistol after the massacre, he replied that he did it "out of habit."

"Its a virtue to be emotionless"

One of the most disturbing parts of the testimony was the answer to the question about "motive and inspiration". The boy said that he got the idea while watching a documentary about a mass shooting in a US school, posted on YouTube.

His explanation of his own mental state was particularly chilling. He said that his father at one point called him a "psychopath", after which he began to research the meaning of the term.

"He admitted that he fully identified with psychopaths as he was doing the research. He told the court that he considers it a 'virtue' to be cold and emotionless," a source who attended the hearing said.

When asked by the mother of one of the victims, Andrija Cikic, about why he committed the crime, the boy said, "I felt rejected" - after which he was taken ill, and spent the rest of the testimony supervised by a doctor.

Twist in his mother's favor: "I'm mature now"

The biggest surprise for those present was the boy's attempt to absolve his mother, Miljana Kecmanovic, of responsibility. While he previously claimed that her strictness and insistence on achieving success was the "trigger" for the crime, he changed his story yesterday. He stated that her demands did not influence his decision, justifying this change of mind by saying that "he has only now matured".

Also, it was discovered that the boy was absent from school as many as 211 times, faking illnesses because it was "an effort to go to school".

Lawyers: "Concrete evidence"

Afterwards, the lawyer representing the families of the victims, Zora Dobricanin Nikodinovic, said that yesterday's testimony provided "concrete evidence" that confirms the indictment (against the parents).

The retrial is taking place because the Appellate Court a part of the first-instance verdict. Vladimir Kecmanovic is charged with a serious offense against general safety and inadequate storage of weapons, while Miljana Kecmanovic is charged with child neglect and abuse.

The boy himself, who was less than 14 years old at the time of the crime, is not criminally responsible and cannot be put on trial, and has the status of the victim in this process.

(Telegraf.rs, Blic)