Serbia court convicts parents of teenage school shooter News
ZlatanJovanovic, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Serbia court convicts parents of teenage school shooter

The parents of the 13-year-old who killed 10 people at a school in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2023 were convicted on Monday.

The teen’s father, Vladimir Kecmanovic, was accused of committing a serious crime against public security as well as abusing and neglecting a minor. As a result of the trial, Vladimir was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison.

The teen’s mother, Miljana Kecmanovic, was accused of committing a crime in the criminal case of abusing and neglecting a minor as well as the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession, carrying, and trafficking of weapons and explosive substances. On Monday, Miljana was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Miljana was also acquitted of the charges that she committed the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession, carrying, and trafficking of weapons and explosive substances.

The shooting instructor of the teen, Nemanja Marinkovic, was accused of committing a minor crime and of making a false statement. Nemanja was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison.

The president of the panel briefly announced the reasoning behind the verdict and allowed an appeal against the verdict to the Court of Appeal in Belgrade.

In May of 2023, the teenager entered the school with two of his father’s pistols and killed 10 students and one security guard, injuring five more students and a history teacher. Due to Serbia’s juvenile criminal offenders law, no person can be subjected to criminal sanctions for an offense committed while under the age of 14. As the teen was not yet fourteen at the time of the crime, he will not be held criminally responsible. However, he has been held in a mental institution since the attack.

The trial for the parents of the teen began earlier this year in January. The trial was closed to the public but the verdict was made public.