NEW RULING IN “RIBNIKAR” CASE: Kecmanović Family and School Must Pay 3 Million Dinars to Seriously Injured Boy!

The Higher Court in Belgrade has issued a ruling obliging the defendants Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanović, their minor son who committed the mass murder, and the “Vladislav Ribnikar” school to jointly pay the minor J.D., who was injured on May 3, 2023, a total of 3.1 million dinars in non-material damages for sustained physical and psychological pain.

The court ruled that the boy be paid 1,500,000 dinars for emotional distress due to reduced general life activity, 600,000 dinars for physical pain, 800,000 dinars for fear, and 200,000 dinars for emotional distress due to disfigurement.

The court rejected the plaintiff’s request for compensation for non-material damages in the remaining part, i.e., above the awarded amounts to the requested amounts, as unfounded.

The defendants were also ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings with statutory default interest.

Parents and School Held Accountable

The explanation of the judgment states, among other things, that K.K. is responsible for the damage suffered by the injured boy, considering he was capable of discernment. His parents are responsible for the damage caused by their minor child because the damage resulted from the minor’s poor upbringing, bad examples, and vicious habits given to him by the defendants as parents.

It adds that Vladimir Kecmanović took his son to a shooting range and taught him how to handle weapons and shoot at targets, even though such activity was not appropriate for the child’s age and development. He is also responsible, as the court assessed, for keeping weapons in the apartment with children in a place accessible to them, specifically for keeping weapons and ammunition in the busiest part of the apartment, in a closet in the hallway.

Miljana Kecmanović, as the court assessed, is responsible for failing to establish or prevent her husband from taking the child to the shooting range, where K.K. learned to handle firearms, and for not ensuring how her husband stored firearms or how they were secured in the apartment where they live.

By their behavior, Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanović showed that as parents, they did not care for the upbringing and development of their minor son, for which they are responsible for the non-material damage suffered by the minor plaintiff J.D.

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School’s Responsibility and Appeal Process

Furthermore, the court believes there is also responsibility for damages on the part of the school, because the school, as an educational institution, has an obligation to provide a safe environment for students and to organize supervision over them during their stay at school. The court assessed that this was neglected in this case, thereby creating the school’s responsibility for the damage caused by K.K., as it was a foreseeable risk that could have been prevented.

Appeals against this judgment are permitted to the Court of Appeal in Belgrade.

Of the five lawsuits filed by family members of those killed and injured, three have been concluded. Following the lawsuit by 27 family members of the victims, the Kecmanović family and the school were ordered to pay them approximately 350 million dinars, while the Kecmanović family was ordered to pay the injured history teacher almost seven million dinars.

By the first-instance judgment of the Higher Court in Belgrade, Vladimir Kecmanović was sentenced to a combined prison term of 14 and a half years for criminal acts of neglect and abuse of a minor and a serious act against general safety.

His wife, Miljana Kecmanović, was sentenced to three years in prison for the criminal act of neglect and abuse of a minor, while shooting instructor Nemanja Marinković was sentenced to 15 months in prison for giving false testimony.

The boy K.K., who was under 14 years old at the time of committing this crime and therefore not criminally responsible, shot his peers with two of his father’s pistols, which he took on May 1. He then put them in his backpack on the fateful day, went to school, and during the first class, killed 10 people and injured five more children and a history teacher.