Novi Sad court halts criminal proceedings against six indicted in railway station tragedy case

NOVI SAD - The non-trial chamber of the Higher Court of Novi Sad has halted criminal proceedings against six people indicted in the railway station tragedy case and upheld charges against seven others.

A November 1, 2024 canopy collapse at the railway station left 16 people dead and one person seriously injured.

The court's spokesperson Sanja Cetojevic said on Wednesday that, during an examination of an indictment against Goran Vesic, Jelena Tanaskovic, Anita Dimoski, Milan Spremic, Marina Gavrilovic and Dejan Todorovic, the chamber had found that the public prosecutor's office had not gathered sufficient evidence to suspect that they had committed the criminal offences they had been charged with.

Tanaskovic, Vesic and Dimoski were indicted on suspicion of committing a serious crime against general safety under Article 288, Paragraph 2 of the Penal Code, in conjunction with the criminal act of causing general danger under Article 278, Paragraph 3 in conjunction with Article 2 of the Penal Code.

Spremic, Gavrilovic and Todorovic were indicted on suspicion of committing a serious crime against general safety under Article 288, Paragraph 2 of the Penal Code in conjunction with the crime of illegal and improper execution of construction works under Article 281, Paragraph 1 of the Penal Code.

Cetojevic also said the chamber had upheld an indictment against Nebojsa Surlan, Slobodan Naumovic, Milan Jelkic, Ljiljana Milic Markovic, Jasna Stojiljkovic Milic, Zorica Slavkovic Marjanovic and Dusan Jankovic.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad has announced it would appeal the Higher Court's decision to halt criminal proceedings against Vesic, Tanaskovic, Dimoski, Spremic, Gavrilovic and Todorovic.