Belgrade Court Overturns Indictment for Third Time in Fatal Train Station Canopy Collapse Case

Belgrade's Appellate Court has once again rejected an indictment related to the fatal collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad train station, marking the third time the charges have been overturned. The case, which resulted in the deaths of 16 people, remains stalled as the court grapples with jurisdictional disputes between prosecution offices.

The core issue revolves around the authority to prosecute. The Supreme Prosecution Office initially transferred the case from the Belgrade Higher Prosecution Office to the Organized Crime Prosecution Office. However, the head of the Belgrade office appealed this decision and, crucially, filed the indictment the very next day, before his appeal was even ruled upon.

The Appellate Court cited this procedural misstep as the reason for its latest rejection. It questioned the legal basis for the Belgrade prosecution's actions and the timing of the case's transfer. The court emphasized that it is the judiciary's responsibility to continuously verify that indictments are filed by authorized prosecutors, a step that appears to have been overlooked by the lower court.

The indictment targeted Milutin Savović and Biljana Krstić, members of the technical inspection commission for the Novi Sad station, for negligent service and endangering public safety. Slobodanka Katanić, a manager at the state-owned "Serbian Railways Infrastructure," was charged with abuse of office and endangering public safety. KRIK reported that Katanić allegedly knew the technical inspection report was flawed and that construction was incomplete but still approved the opening of the section with the canopy. Savović and Krstić allegedly conducted the inspection while reconstruction was ongoing and failed to verify compliance with the building permit.

This latest setback means that no one has yet been held accountable for the canopy's collapse. The stalled indictment is just one of several legal proceedings related to the incident. A separate main case is ongoing in Novi Sad against former officials, including ex-Minister of Construction Goran Vesić, and others, also facing charges of endangering public safety. An indictment in that case was recently confirmed after an earlier reversal.