The teenager who killed nine students and a guard in last year’s mass shooting at a Belgrade school walked out of a psychiatric institution for the first time Tuesday to testify at his parents’ trial.
The 13-year-old boy had committed the murders on May 3 last year using his father’s gun. Due to his age he cannot be prosecuted but his parents face serious public safety charges.
The hearing took place behind closed doors but Ognjen Bozovic, the legal representative of the victims’ families, said: “Today was one of the most harrowing trials I have ever seen in my career… It was extremely difficult.”
Defense lawyer Irina Borovik said the reasons behind the crime would not be revealed in any trial.
Borovik said, “Those reasons obviously lie somewhere deep in the soul of the boy who unfortunately did all this.”
Parents of the killed children also attended the testimony, which took place in a high-security court usually reserved for cases involving organized crime and war crimes.
Most left the court crying and unable to speak to the media.
The prosecutor’s office said it was closely monitoring the media for any leaks of the minor’s testimony during the trial.
The boy’s father, who is in custody, has been accused of training his son to use firearms as well as failing to safely store weapons and ammunition. The boy had hidden a handgun and 92 bullets used in the shooting in his bag.
The boy’s mother is convicted after his DNA is found on a pill. However he has not been taken into custody.
Less than 48 hours after the school attack, eight people were killed in another shooting by a 21-year-old man armed with an automatic rifle about 60 kilometers (37 mi) south of Belgrade.
Despite high levels of gun ownership, mass shootings have been rare in Serbia. The government decided in September that May 3 and May 4 would be memorial days for victims of mass shootings.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
