Lawmakers set up a committee tasked to investigate the facts and circumstances that led to the two mass shootings in May at the opposition’s request in parliament on Tuesday.
The Assembly decided to create the Inquiry Committee on 11 July at a session requested by the opposition. Marinika Tepić, head of the United parliamentary group, was elected president and Biljana Pantić Pilja, deputy of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party will be committee deputy.
Within 30 days, the committee should obtain all the necessary information that will enable a report on possible failures of the institutions and propose measures to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
On Tuesday, the 13-year-old boy who killed a security guard and nine students at the Vladislav Ribnikar school, attended the trial against his father, V. K., as part of the investigation conducted by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, on suspicion of V.K. having committed the crime against public safety.
The suspect’s son, who, at the time of the murders, was not yet 14 and is not criminally responsible according to Serbian laws, gave his statement as a witness in the presence of his legal representative, his mother. He was also questioned via video link, including by the health institutions where he has been observed since the murders.
The interrogation lasted four hours, and, for the first time, the boy seemed to express remorse for his actions.
The victims’ parents left the courtroom visibly shaken. Lawyer Zora Dobričanin Nikodinović, who represents one of these families, confirmed that the boy was interrogated via video link.
“During the hearing, the boy confirmed what his father had previously stated and explained how his father kept and stored weapons. He stated that his father did not allow him to have contact with weapons. The boy expressed remorse for everything he had done”, the lawyer said.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade is conducting an investigation against V.K. due to the suspicion that in the previous period, he trained his son to handle firearms and ammunition.
“We remind you that the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade is investigating V.K. due to the suspicion that in the previous period, he trained his 13-year-old son to handle firearms and ammunition by taking him to shooting ranges to shoot targets with weapons, even though the child is 13 years old and that such activity and training are not appropriate for his age,” it said.
“Also, V. K. acted contrary to the provisions of the Law on Arms and Ammunition and contrary to the Rulebook on Spatial and Technical Conditions for the Safe Storage of Arms and Ammunition because he did not provide the conditions for safe storage of arms and ammunition, so that they cannot come into possession of unauthorised persons, i.e. to be locked separated in safes, cash registers or similar cabinets that cannot be easily opened,” the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade states.
Since the mass shootings, the opposition has been organising anti-government protests known as “Serbia against violence” across the country every week.
Protesters continue to demand the replacement of all members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, the cancellation of TV programmes that promote violence, and the ban of print media that promotes aggression and violates the journalistic code of ethics.
Protestors are also calling for Internal Affairs Minister Bratislav Gašić and the chief of BIA, the recently sanctioned by the US, Aleksandar Vulin, to be replaced.
They are also calling for the replacement of the Broadcasting Agency’s management and for broadcasters TV Pink and TV Happy to be replaced, as, in the protestors’ words, they are breaking the law and promoting violence and immorality.
(Aleksandra Vrbica | EURACTIV.rs)
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