Belgrade court convicts parents of teenage school killer

BELGRADE - The Higher Court in Belgrade on Monday handed maximum child neglect sentences to the parents of K K, a teenage boy who killed nine pupils and a security staff member and wounded six more people in a shooting spree in his primary school in central Belgrade on May 3, 2023.

His father Vladimir Kecmanovic was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a serious crime against general safety as well as to three years in prison for neglect and abuse of a minor, and received a unified sentence of 14.5 years of imprisonment.

Time spent in custody will count towards his prison sentence.

His wife Miljana was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect and abuse.

A restraining order under which she is not allowed to approach or contact her son - who has been in a psychiatric institution since the crime - was also extended.

Shooting sports instructor Nemanja Marinkovic was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for the criminal offence of false testimony.

The first-instance rulings may be appealed by both the defence and the prosecutors.

The teenage killer, who was under 14 years of age at the time he committed the crime and thus cannot be held criminally responsible, used two of his father's pistols in the shooting spree.