As soon as Uroš Blažić, accused of the massacre in Dubona and Mali Orašje, and his father were brought into the courtroom of the High Court in Smederevo, where the trial was supposed to start yesterday, the parents of his victims attacked him, which is why Blažić was immediately taken out of the courtroom.
That is why the decision was made to move the trial to the building of the Special Court in Belgrade, said lawyer Nebojša Perović, attorney for the young man wounded in the massacre.
HIGH COURTPhoto: Strahinja Aćimović/Tanjug
Everything lasted very short, about fifteen seconds. The incident occurred as soon as the guards brought in Blažić, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, as well as handcuffs on his hands and feet.
The families of the victims then started pushing chairs in the courtroom and shouting loudly, and the mother of the murdered Dalibor Todorović fell ill. She states that she was most struck by the fact that Blažić was brought to the courtroom surrounded by guards and wearing a bulletproof vest.
At one point, security had to stop Dalibor Todorović's father, who was walking towards Blažić and crying in tears: "He killed my son! He killed my son."
Zorica Panić, the mother of the murdered Kristina and Milan Panić, took the cartridge that fell from one of the guards.
"The criminal was not looking at us, he was looking at the floor, he entered with his head down," Panić described later.
The trial did not take place and shortly after the reaction of the grieving parents culminated, Blažić was led out of the courtroom.
Expected reactions
When all the circumstances are taken into account, the parents' reaction is not unexpected, but it is not clear whether all the security conditions for holding such a trial were respected, as well as whether the High Court in Smederevo was a good option for such a sensitive procedure.
Lawyer Marko Pantić tells "Vreme" that the case was taken over by the court in Smederevo, not the Special Court in Belgrade, because it is being treated as a serious murder.
"The case is not being handled as an organized crime, but as a serious murder, so this courtroom was an option," explains Pantić.
When it comes to security and the conditions in which the trial takes place, Pantić explains that there are strict rules that are always followed, but that this case is simply too complex.
"In normal cases and cases, the defendant must not be handcuffed during the trial, but only while entering and leaving the courtroom. It rarely happens that someone attacks the defendant, but this case is simply such that it was expected," he said.
He adds that it is better to continue the trial in the building of the Special Court in Belgrade, which has a better protection system.
Proceedings against the parents of the victims would not be expedient
When it comes to the possibility of the victims' parents being held criminally responsible for yesterday's attack on Blažić, Pantić believes that proceedings will not be initiated against them.
"Certainly, it was necessary for the proxies and representatives of their families to better prepare them for the trial. By law, they could be held accountable because it's illegal to assault anyone in a courtroom, but that probably won't happen. For that to happen, the prosecution would have to initiate a case against them, and that would cause public anger and is simply not expedient. These are people who survived incredible traumas", he concludes.
By the way, the accused Blažić faces 20 years in prison for the massacre because he was a minor at the time of the commission of the criminal acts, that is, he did not reach the age of 21.
Uroš Blažić was accused of terrible crimes in the villages of Dubona and Malo Orašje. On May 4, 2023, he killed nine people and wounded 20 others, 12 of whom were injured.
