The parents of the boy who shot and killed nine children and one security guard at an elementary school in Serbia have been sentenced to prison in a retrial in Belgrade.
Foreign news agencies reported that in 2023, the perpetrator, then only 13 years old, fatally shot seven girls, one boy, and a security guard at Vladislav Ribnikar School in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Another girl later died at the hospital.
Because the shooter was below the age of criminal responsibility, he was placed in a psychiatric institution. However, Vladimir and Miljana Ketmanovic, his parents, were charged with neglect of duty and child abuse. The father also faced serious charges related to public safety violations.
Last Thursday (18 June 2026), the court sentenced Mr. Ketmanovic to 14 years and 6 months in prison, while his wife was sentenced to 2 years and 11 months. Both the defense and prosecution have appealed the prison terms.
Sora Dobritchanin, the lawyer representing the victims' families, described the trial as a “long struggle” that will continue in the appeals court.
Gun attacks like mass shootings are rare in Serbia, which had never experienced a school shooting before this incident on 3 May 2023. The boy secretly took two pistols from his father's safe and brought them to school, where he opened fire in the hallways and classrooms.
Besides the 10 fatalities, five children and a history teacher were injured. Just two days later, another gunman drove near Belgrade and killed nine more people in a shooting spree.
These events led tens of thousands of citizens to protest on the streets, prompting the Serbian government to announce a program to collect illegal firearms, granting amnesty to those who surrender weapons and enforcing stricter laws.
The parents first faced trial in 2024, during which the court heard confidential testimony from their son.
Although the father was sentenced to a long prison term for training his son to use guns and unsafe firearm storage, the mother was acquitted on illegal firearm possession charges and found guilty only of neglect of duty. The shooting range instructor where the boy trained was also found guilty of perjury.
However, Belgrade's appeals court ordered a retrial in November 2025, citing unclear and contradictory original verdicts. The father remains in custody, while the mother was allowed to stay out of prison pending the new trial this year.
The retrial began in January. The chief prosecutor stated that punishing the perpetrator’s parents would be part of how Serbian society responds to one of its most shocking peacetime tragedies.
The defense lawyer for the accused parents told the court that the latest verdict holding them guilty of neglect of duty did not differ from the initial acquittal.
They argued that the charges lack definitive proof and that expert opinions confirming the boy was neglected were never presented as evidence.
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Source:bbc