The Court of Appeals in Novi Sad has lifted the detention of five more suspects in the case of the collapse of the railway station canopy in that city, which killed 16 people.
They were ordered to be placed under house arrest for three months.
With this court decision, none of the 13 people arrested after the canopy collapse are anymore in prison custody.
The Court of Appeal, as announced on June 18, partially upheld the defense attorneys' appeals and lifted the detention of Ljiljana Milić Marković, Zorica Slavković Marjanović, Dušan Janković, Milan Spremić, and Dejan Todorović.
Previously, the pre-trial panel of the Higher Court in Novi Sad decided on May 29th to replace the detention of suspects Nebojša Šurlan, Slobodan Naumović, Milan Jelkić and Marina Gavrilović with house arrest.
On June 12, the detention of Zorica Slavković Marjanović was also lifted and replaced with a ban on leaving the apartment.
The indictment, which the prosecution filed on December 30, was returned by the High Court in Novi Sad in mid-April "for further processing" with the explanation that "better clarification of the matter is needed in order to examine its merits."
This returned the proceedings to the investigation phase.
Among the 13 people included in the indictment of the Novi Sad Prosecutor's Office are former Minister of Transport Goran Vesić, his associate in the ministry Anita Dimoski, and former director of "Infrastruktura Željeznice Srbije" Jelena Tanasković.
The three of them, as well as the former director of "Infrastruktura Željeznice Srbije" Nebojša Šurlan, are charged with a serious offense against public security, in connection with the criminal offense of causing public danger.
Tanasković and Dimoski have previously been under house arrest, while Goran Vesić is defending himself from freedom.
Among the defendants who have been released from custody are designers and persons responsible for control and supervision.
They are charged with a serious crime against public safety, in connection with the improper and improper performance of construction work.
The procedure is also being conducted by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which filed an indictment in early March for the omissions that led to the canopy's collapse.
The reconstructed Novi Sad Railway Station building was officially opened just four months before the canopy collapsed, with the message that the renovation exceeded European standards.
The accident led to mass protests in Serbia demanding that the authorities be held accountable for the accident.
The protests, led by students in recent months, have become a symbol of broader dissatisfaction with the rule of law in Serbia - with questions raised about whether the collapse of the canopy and the deaths of 16 people were caused by the system's negligence and corruption.
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