"Nadstrešnica" case: The Higher Court in Novi Sad suspends criminal proceedings against Vesić and others

The pre-trial chamber of the Higher Court in Novi Sad today suspended the criminal proceedings against Jelena Tanasković, Goran Vesić, Anita Dimoski, Milan Spremić, Marina Gavrilović and Dejan Todorović in the "Nadstrešnica" case.

"The panel found that there was insufficient evidence to support a reasonable suspicion that the named defendants committed the crimes charged," the court said in a statement distributed to reporters.

This is a case regarding the fall of a canopy from the renovated railway station building in Novi Sad, when 16 people died on November 1 last year.

The court lifted the house arrest of Jelena Tanasković, Milan Spremić, Milan Gavrilović and Dejan Todorović, while the measures prohibiting the defendants Goran Vesić and Anita Dimoska from leaving their apartments, determined by a decision of the Higher Court in Belgrade, remain in effect.

The indictment was confirmed against Nebojša Šurlan, Slobodan Naumović, Milan Jelkić, Ljiljana Milić Marković, Jasna Stojiljković Milić, Zorica Slavković Marjanović and Dušan Janković, the court said.

"What is common to almost all responses to the indictment is the statement that the prosecution only technically conducted a supplementary investigation, collecting evidence and questioning witnesses and experts whom the court pointed out to them in the order to supplement the investigative procedure, without subsequently analyzing the results obtained in the supplementary investigation and applying them in the new indictment," the Higher Court in Novi Sad said in a statement.

They added that this is why the court made the decision, because in the event of dismissing the indictment against the above-mentioned, the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence for reasonable suspicion that the defendants committed the criminal offenses that are the subject of the charges.

The court stated that after a detailed analysis of the contents of the indictment, it came to the conclusion that the corrosion of the cables on the canopy was the first and most important factor in terms of the intensity of the impact on the canopy's collapse, and that even without the additional load on the canopy caused by the work, its collapse would likely have occurred.

The court found that the increase in load, in itself, would not have led to the collapse of the canopy if the canopy, or rather the structure, were in good condition.

"If there had been no corrosion, the additional load would not have led to the collapse," the court stated.

As an explanation for extending the house arrest for some of the defendants, the court stated that the condition of the structure should have been determined before the work was carried out, which would have completely prevented the canopy from falling.

Goran Vesić was the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Jelena Tanasković was the Acting General Director of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure Company, and Anita Dimoski was the State Secretary at the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure.

Nebojša Šurlan is the former General Director of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure, while the other listed individuals are engineers and responsible persons responsible for technical supervision of the execution of works.