In a major judicial reversal, the Appelate Court in Novi Sad has overturned a lower court’s ruling, officially reconfirming the indictment against former Construction and Transport Minister Goran Vesić, former Director of Infrastructure of Serbian Railways Jelena Tanasković, and four other co-defendants.
The decision successfully clears the last major procedural roadblock to setting a trial date for the catastrophic November 2024 concrete canopy collapse at the Novi Sad railway station, which resulted in the loss of 15 lives and left several others severely injured.
Overturning the Lower Court’s Deflection
The Appellate Court’s intervention directly addresses a controversial ruling made on December 24, 2025, by the Higher Court in Novi Sad, which had effectively dropped or “toppled” the charges explicitly connecting Vesić, Tanasković, and select high-profile officials to the disaster.
THE NOVI SAD JUDICIAL TIMELINE
Sept 16, 2025 Dec 24, 2025 July 2026
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Prosecutor │ ────────────> │ Lower Court │ ──────────> │ Appeals │
│ Indicts 13 │ Charges │ Drops Key │ Ruling │ Reconfirms │
│ Executives │ Appealed │ Politicians │ Overturned │ All Trials │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
By sustaining the Higher Public Prosecutor’s swift appeal, the appellate panel effectively reinstated the original, all-encompassing September 2025 indictment. All defendants named in the prosecutor’s original filings will now stand trial together.
Defendants and Behind-the-Scenes Legal Maneuvers
The finalized trial list includes a mix of top political leaders, state infrastructure executives, and technical engineers overseeing the station’s heavily criticized modernization project:
| Political & State Leadership | Engineering & Technical Experts |
| • Goran Vesić (Former Infrastructure Minister) • Jelena Tanasković (Former Director, Infrastructure of Serbian Railways) • Anita Dimoski (Assistant Infrastructure Minister) | • Milan Spremić • Marina Gavrilović • Dejan Todorović • Appeals by engineers Šurlan, Naumović, and Jelkić were summarily rejected as groundless. |
The formal announcement follows an public disclosure on July 2, 2026, by Novi Sad Law Faculty Professor Bojan Pajtić. Pajtić revealed that while the Appellate Court had finalized its decision in mid-June, defense attorneys attempted to stall the formal delivery of the verdict by launching highly irregular, post-decision demands to disqualify sitting members of the judicial council.
With more than 20 months having elapsed since the structural disaster, the total consolidation of the Novi Sad indictment marks the first comprehensive legal mechanism to hold both political overseers and technical executioners accountable in a single court room.
