The Higher Court in Belgrade has decided to exclude the public from the retrial of the parents of the boy K. K., who on May 3, 2023, killed nine children and a school guard at the “Vladislav Ribnikar” Elementary School.
The trial was closed to the public at the proposal of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, in order to protect the interests of minors and the privacy of the injured parties.
Attendance is permitted to defense attorneys, legal representatives, and all those who have the status of injured parties, namely members of the families of the killed and wounded.
The trial will remain closed to the public until the end of the proceedings, until the verdict, which will be public.
The prosecuting attorney stated that he stands by the proposal set out in the indictment, adding that the reasons for the request have already been explained, namely the protection of the interests of minors involved in the proceedings.
On the other hand, the defense attorneys for Miljana and Vladimir Kecmanović opposed the proposal and requested that the trial be open to the public.
Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanović expressed the same view, stating that the public should attend the trial so that accurate information could be disseminated.
The judge ordered a 10-minute recess, after which the decision would be announced.
The retrial is being held because the Belgrade Court of Appeal overturned the first-instance verdict, by which the Kecmanovićs had been sentenced to multi-year prison terms, and ordered that the trial be repeated.
Under the first-instance verdict, Vladimir Kecmanović was sentenced to 14 and a half years in prison for the criminal offenses of neglect and abuse of a minor and a serious offense against public safety, while his wife Miljana Kecmanović was sentenced to three years in prison for the criminal offense of neglect and abuse of a minor.
By the same verdict, Nemanja Marinković, an instructor at the shooting range where K. K. practiced shooting, was convicted and sentenced to one year of house arrest for giving false testimony.
In addition to the criminal proceedings, five civil lawsuits were also conducted against the Kecmanovićs, filed by family members of the killed and wounded, all of which have been concluded at first instance.
The boy K. K., who at the time of committing this crime had not yet turned 14 and was therefore not criminally responsible, fired shots on May 3 at the school using two of his father’s pistols, which he had taken on May 1, 2023.
On that day, he placed them in his backpack, went to school, and during the first class killed 10 people and wounded five other children and a history teacher.
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Source: B92; Foto: ATA Images