KRIK: The Court of Appeal in Belgrade for the third time overturned the indictment of the Belgrade Public Prosecutor's Office for the fall of the canopy

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade has again overturned the confirmation of the indictment of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade for the fall of a canopy from the Novi Sad Railway Station building, which killed 16 people, and returned it to the Higher Court to decide. This is a separate proceeding from the one being conducted in Novi Sad, in which the Court of Appeal there recently confirmed the indictment.

This is the third time that the Court of Appeals has revoked the confirmation of the same indictment, and each time for the same reason, KRIK reminds.

Now, as stated in the statement, it has accepted the lawyers' appeals and overturned the decision of the Higher Court in Belgrade, which confirmed the indictment back in April. Unlike previous statements, this time the explanation clearly shows for the first time what the problem is, reports N1.

Namely, at the end of February last year, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office took the case away from the Belgrade Higher Prosecutor's Office and assigned it to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. Nenad Stefanović, the prosecutor who heads the VJP, appealed that decision and the very next day, without waiting for his appeal to be decided, filed an indictment with the court. In other words, the prosecutor's office that was supposed to be removed from the case filed the indictment the day after it rebelled against its own removal.

This is precisely what the Court of Appeal now criticizes the first instance court for: it is not clear on what basis it concluded that the VJP then had the right to act in the case, and that the decision to take over the case began to be valid on the day it was made, and not when it was delivered to the prosecution. Finally, the appeal recalls that the court is obliged to check at all times whether the indictment is filed by an authorized prosecutor, and not to consider this issue resolved as soon as the indictment arrives at the registry.

The indictment was filed in March last year. It charges the president and member of the Novi Sad station's Technical Inspection Commission, Milutin Savović and Biljana Krstić, with negligent performance of duties and a serious offense against public security, while the manager of the state-owned company "Serbian Railway Infrastructure", Slobodanka Katanić, is charged with abuse of office and a serious offense against public security.

KRIK, as a reminder, had access to the indictment, which states that Katanić knew that the technical inspection report was not done properly and that the works at the station were not completed, but still formed a commission that decided to open the part of the building with the canopy to passengers. According to the indictment, Savović and Krstić performed the technical inspection even though the reconstruction of the building was still underway and did not check whether the works were carried out in accordance with the building permit.

Procedures for canopy fall tapping in place

To this day, no one has been held accountable for the collapse of the canopy, KRIK reminds.

The indictment, which the Belgrade appeals court has returned for the third time, is just one of the proceedings being conducted in this case. In parallel, the main case is being conducted before the Novi Sad judiciary – against former Minister of Construction Goran Vesić, former director of the Serbian Railways Infrastructure Jelena Tanasković and 11 other people, who are charged with a serious crime against public security.

There, after a reversal, the indictment was confirmed two days ago: The Court of Appeals in Novi Sad overturned the decision from December that suspended the proceedings against Vesić and the others and ordered that everyone be tried.

Vesić is also under a financial investigation by the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. In addition to him, former Minister Tomislav Momirović and 12 other people are suspected of damaging the state budget by 115 million dollars during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad-Kelebija railway, which included the renovation of the station. There is no indictment in this case yet. Momirović was arrested and spent time in custody, while Vesić avoided arrest because he allegedly had emergency surgery the day before.

The collapse of the canopy and the lack of accountability sparked mass protests across Serbia that are still ongoing.