In a landmark retrial in Belgrade, a Serbian court has sentenced the parents of a teenage boy who shot and killed nine children and a security guard at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in May 2023. The father, Vladimir Kecmanović, was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison for public safety offenses, including failing to secure his weapons and training his son to handle firearms. The mother, Miljana Kecmanović, received a prison term of two years and 11 months for the neglect and abuse of a minor. Because the shooter was only 13 years old at the time of the massacre, he remains under the age of criminal responsibility and is currently being held in a psychiatric facility.

The tragic 2023 shooting, during which the boy fired 66 bullets in just over two minutes, stunned Serbia—a nation where mass shootings were historically rare and school gun violence was entirely unheard of. The disaster, which was followed just days later by another separate drive-by mass killing near Belgrade, sparked massive national protests and prompted the Serbian government to implement a sweeping gun amnesty alongside significantly stricter firearm regulations. Legal representatives for the victims’ families described the protracted legal process as a long and exhausting fight for justice that has deeply impacted the entire country.

This latest ruling follows a November 2025 decision by the Belgrade Court of Appeal to overturn the initial 2024 verdicts due to unclear and contradictory reasoning, which forced the retrial that began in January. Despite the new sentences, the legal battle is set to continue as both the prosecution and defense teams have already lodged appeals against the jail terms. Defense attorneys argued that the state failed to provide definitive expert testimony proving neglect, while the chief prosecutor maintained that holding the parents accountable is vital for how Serbian society heals from one of the most tragic events in its peacetime history.

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