Serbia To Lower Criminal Responsibility Age From 14 To 12 After School Shooting

Serbian government agreed on Thursday with President Aleksandar Vucic's proposition to lower age of criminal responsibility and introduce several new measures after the school shooting that took place on Wednesday in Belgrade, Serbian newspaper Vecernje novosti (Evening news) reported

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th May, 2023) Serbian government agreed on Thursday with President Aleksandar Vucic's proposition to lower age of criminal responsibility and introduce several new measures after the school shooting that took place on Wednesday in Belgrade, Serbian newspaper Vecernje novosti (Evening news) reported.

"The Ministry of Justice has been entrusted to consider possibility of changing the penal code in order to lower the age limit of criminal responsibility for minors from 14 to 12 years with respect to international and European standards," the governmental decree was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

According to the report, the government has supported all the measures suggested by Vucic, such as establishing a moratorium on the issuance of permits for the possession and carrying of weapons for two years, revision of previously issued permits, and supervision of compliance with the rules on storing firearms. The president also proposed checking all shooting ranges, introducing six-month drug tests in schools, increasing penalties for broadcasters and other media for the propaganda of violence, restricting access to websites with dangerous content and the darknet, and increasing the work of social services in the area of violence among minors.

On Wednesday, a shooting took place in a school in the Vrachar municipality in the center of the Serbian capital.

Eight children and a guard were killed, while another six children and a teacher were wounded and transferred to an ambulance center and a children's hospital.

Later, the Serbian police said that they had detained the 14-year-old teenager on suspicion of shooting at a school. The seventh-grader who had used his father's gun to commit the crime is thought to have been under the influence of drugs. He reportedly planned the attack a month in advance. The police said that he had a plan of the school building and a list of students he intended to kill.

Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said later that the father of the perpetrator had been arrested. He is reported to be the legal owner of the two pistols that were discovered on the shooter by the police, one as the weapon of the crime, the other in his backpack. The shooter also had three loading clips and several Molotov cocktails, which he never got the chance to use, media said.

Later in the day, the Serbian government declared a nationwide three-day mourning period starting May 5 for the victims of the school shooting, with Serbian education Minister Branko Ruzic calling the shooting "the greatest tragedy that has ever happened in Serbia and in our educational system in recent history."