Parents of Belgrade school shooter sentenced to 14 years and 6 months, and 2 years and 11 months in prison!

Photo collage: Marko Jovanovic, Telegraf.rs, youtube.com/@ordinacijatv, Tanjug/Marko Djokovic

Miljana Kecmanovic, the mother of a boy who in 2023 shot and killed ten people in a Belgrade elementary school, was today sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison, while the father, Vladimir Kecmanovic, will spend 14 years and 6 months behind bars.

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The chief public prosecutor from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanovic, previously asked the court to sentence the Kecmanovics to maximum prison terms, that is, 14 years and 11 months for Vladimir Kecmanovic, and three years for Miljana Kecmanovic.

The defense asked for the two defendants to be acquitted, stating that the allegations made in the indictment have not been proven, i.e., that the defendants did not commit the criminal acts they were charged with.

During the previous trial, closing arguments were also presented by the attorneys acting on behalf of the victims and their families.

The mothers of the murdered children and the sister of the murdered school guard stressed the importance of this trial, stating that it is not a fight to bring back the past, but to save the future.

They expressed agreement with the indictment, asking for the Kecmanovics to be found guilty and to be convicted.

This retrial happened because the Appellate Court in Belgrade overturned the first-instance verdicts which also found the pair guilty and handed them multi-year prison sentences.

Vladimir Kecmanovic stood trial accused of committing the criminal offense of neglecting and abusing a minor and a serious offense against public safety, while Miljana Kecmanovic was accused of the criminal offense of neglecting and abusing a minor.

The shooter, K.K. - who had not yet turned 14 when the massacre took place and could therefore not be held criminally responsible and put on trial - on May 1, 2023, took two of his father's pistols from a safe in the family's apartment in Belgrade.

Two days later, he brought the weapons to his elementary school to shoot and kill nine students and a school guard, and wound five more children and a teacher. K.K. is being held in a psychiatric institution.

(Telegraf.rs)