Serbian authorities have decided to imprison the parents of a teenager who killed nine children and a security guard in a mass shooting last year.
In the attack, carried out in May 2023, the 13-year-old boy was apprehended with two firearms at an elementary school in Belgrade.
The boy’s father, Vladimir Kecmanović, has been sentenced to 14 and a half years in prison, effective from Monday, while his mother, Miljana Kecmanović, has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Nenad Marinković, an instructor at the Partizan shooting club who taught the boy how to use firearms, has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison.
The teenager, who has been placed in a psychiatric institution since carrying out the attack, cannot face trial due to being below the age of criminal responsibility.
During the court session, he expressed remorse for his actions but did not provide an explanation for what motivated him to carry out the killings.
However, his parents have been charged with “serious endangerment to public safety” for failing to properly secure the weapons and ammunition.
Both parents deny the charges in the closed-door trial.
The parents of the murdered children attended the session, hoping to understand the motives behind the teenager’s actions.
Eight of the children who were killed were girls.
The defense lawyer for the boy’s parents argued that the teenager had lived a normal life and had shown no signs that would indicate he was capable of committing such an attack. He stated that the parents should not be held responsible for their son’s actions, and that the verdicts would be appealed. /RE
