2023-05-06 11:27:46
In Serbia, ten of the 17 victims of the two fatal gun attacks will be buried today, Saturday, with more funerals to follow on Sunday and Monday. With white balloons and flowers, family, school friends and teachers said goodbye to one of the first of those killed, a school friend of the 13-year-old gunman, at the New Cemetery in Belgrade. Three more students and the security guard are to be buried in Belgrade later today.
Also on Saturday, five victims of Thursday evening’s shooting will be buried in the village of Malo Orasje. According to Health Minister Danica Grujicic, five of the 21 injured were still in mortal danger on Saturday.
The 21-year-old suspect, believed to be responsible for the deaths of eight people and wounding 14, remained in police custody for 48 hours. He should be questioned by an investigating judge by Sunday afternoon at the latest. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described the bloody deed as a “terrorist act,” a qualification that experts question. A motive for the crime is still unknown.
The 13-year-old, who is said to have killed eight classmates and a security guard and injured seven other people in elementary school on Wednesday, was in the hospital. A 30-day pre-trial detention was imposed on his father, who is said to have taught him how to shoot, after the interrogation on Friday. The doctor and weapons collector faces up to twelve years in prison because of “serious endangerment of general safety”.
Long queues of people who want to sign the mourning book formed in front of the elementary school on Friday. Meanwhile, Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Sapic called on fellow citizens to also lay flowers in front of the Old Castle, the seat of the city administration, by Sunday midnight. The media critical of the government noted the absence of officials in front of the elementary school as a “lack of empathy”. Citizens and young people have been laying flowers and lighting candles there since Wednesday.
President Vucic announced further stricter gun control measures on Friday. The number of legal weapons is to be reduced from the current 400,000 – excluding hunting rifles – to 30,000. Vucic announced on Wednesday that around 700,000 weapons, including hunting rifles, are legally privately owned in Serbia. The number of illegally owned weapons is unknown. According to the police, the suspect from Mladenovac had owned a considerable arsenal of weapons.
Filip Svarm, editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine “Vreme”, which is critical of the government, told the TV channel N1 that he feared that the control measures could increase the number of illegal weapons. The Ministry of the Interior called on owners of guns to hand them in with impunity by June 8th. Hardly anyone in Serbia, which has been confronted with illegal gun ownership since the wars of the 1990s, believes that the campaign could be successful. Serbian society currently feels breathless, like after a punch in the stomach, is how Svarm described the current situation after the gun attacks. Radical changes are needed, meanwhile said teacher Maja Vukic.
Classes are scheduled to resume on Monday at the “Vladislav Ribnikar” elementary school. Even though the school staff, the students and their parents have been offered psychological help in the past few days, many felt insecure.
Not far from the school is the building on which a picture of the Bosnian war criminal Ratko Mladic has been attached for years. All attempts by non-governmental organizations to have them removed have so far failed. Mladic, who was mainly responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and was sentenced to life imprisonment, is a folk hero for many Serbs.
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