A court in Serbia on Monday, December 30, convicted the parents of a teenage boy who shot dead nine pupils and a school guard, wounding six more, in a school in central Belgrade last year.
The Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Vladimir Kecmanovic, father of the boy, to 14 years and six months in prison for "grave acts against public safety" and for child neglect. The mother, Miljana Kecmanovic was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect but was acquitted on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
The massacre at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in central Belgrade on May 3, 2023, shocked the Balkan nation, which was used to crises but where mass school shootings had never happened before. The boy used his father's guns to open fire on his fellow pupils and others. He walked into the school and first opened fire in the hall before heading into a classroom where he continued shooting.
The couple's lawyer, Irina Borovic, said the verdict came as no surprise "because public pressure was enormous and the expectations were huge." Borovic said she will appeal the verdicts.
Police have said that the teenager called them after the shooting and calmly said what he had done. He has been held in a specialized institution since the shooting and testified at his parents' trial. The proceedings were closed to the public except for the reading of the verdicts.
Also convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for a false testimony was a shooting instructor who worked at a shooting range where the boy practiced shooting.
The school shooting was followed the next day by another mass killing in villages outside the capital of Belgrade. Uros Blazic, 21, took an automatic rifle and opened fire at multiple locations, killing nine people and wounding 12. He was sentenced earlier this month to 20 years in prison. The back-to-back shootings triggered a wave of street protests and a crackdown on widespread illegal gun ownership.