At the first hearing in the trial of the parents of the minor KK who committed a mass murder in the elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar" in May 2023, when ten people were killed, it was first declared whether the trial would be open or closed to the public. It was decided that the entire main trial will be closed to the public, he reports N1.
All those participating in the proceedings are prohibited from giving statements, because it is a criminal offense, it was decided.
The prosecution requested that it be closed for the protection of minors.
As stated in the indictment and as stated at the press conference, the entire defense of KK's parents was for the trial to be open to the public.
The lawyer of the parents of KK Borivoje Borović stated that he is against it being closed to the public, because the media will definitely report on it, whether it is open or closed.
During the hearing, the defense lawyers did not ask any questions to the minors who are witnesses, nor will they continue to do so.
N1 explains that according to court practice, the prosecutor at the first hearing first informs those present of the allegations in the indictment, the defendants briefly state their guilt, i.e. what the prosecution accuses them of, then the prosecutor and the defense lawyers will each propose their own evidence that they will present during the trial and they will declare themselves on the opposite side's proposals. Only after all that, the accused will have the opportunity, if they wish, to present their defense immediately.
The defendants in this criminal proceeding in the "Ribnikar" case are the parents of a minor boy, who on May 3, 2023, killed nine of his peers, a school guard and injured six other people at the Vračar Elementary School in Belgrade.
In addition to the parents, the indictment includes the owner and instructor of the shooting club, where, according to the prosecution, the first defendant, Vladimir Kecmanović, took his minor son to practice shooting at moving targets.
For the owner and the instructor, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade is seeking prison terms of three years each for giving false statements during the investigation.
The prosecution proposed a prison sentence of 12 years for the boy's father, and he was accused of a serious offense against general safety.
According to the indictment, it is suspected that Kecmanović trained the child how to handle weapons, as well as that he did not provide the conditions for keeping firearms.
Miljana Kecmanović, the boy's mother, was immediately charged. For her, the prosecution is asking for two and a half years in prison, due to the criminal offense of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, and the reason is that unsecured weapons and a large amount of ammunition were found in the house, and that one of the shell casings that was found after the massacre at the school contained her DNA trace.
As N1 states, it should be recalled that this procedure does not include the boy who killed ten people, because he is criminally irresponsible, due to the fact that he was only 13 years old at the time of the massacre.
For this reason, this criminal proceeding should be distinguished from two civil cases, which are ongoing before the same High Court, in which the injured families sued the boy, his parents, the school, and the state for non-material damages due to mental pain and stress suffered.
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