A former government minister and multiple state officials were among those charged Monday over the Nov. 1 collapse of a railway station roof in Serbia that killed 15 people and led to mass protests over official corruption.
The Higher Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, charged former Transport Minister Goran Vesić, who resigned after the tragedy, with endangering public safety, and requested that he be remanded in custody. Among the other 12 people charged were Vesić’s deputy, senior officials with Serbian Railways Infrastructure, construction contractors and technical supervisors.
“All of us, as citizens, expect that those who are guilty and responsible for what happened will be held accountable before the court [and] that criminal legal responsibility will be determined,” said Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević the day before the indictments were filed.
The accident occurred at a train station in Novi Sad, 100 kilometers northwest of Belgrade, following repeated renovations within a broader agreement with Chinese construction firms. Critics blamed the shoddy work on widespread corruption and a lack of transparency.
“Goran Vesić is one of the people most responsible for massive corruption in construction, for the policy of secret contracts with investors, and this is now leaving behind human victims,” Radomir Lazović, co-chief of the opposition party Green-Left Front, said after the accident.
Despite the indictments, critics said the investigation failed to get to grips with the corruption that allegedly caused the tragedy.
“While the government tries to throw dust in the eyes of the people, key questions remain unanswered,” said former Novi Sad Mayor Boris Novaković in a post on X. “How is it possible that in the indictment there is not even a word about responsibility for the deaths of 15 people? Where are the traces of the corruption that costs us every day, not just money but also lives?”
The Novi Sad station lies on a planned 1,032-kilometer railway connection from Budapest, Hungary to Athens, Greece that is being built within China’s Belt and Road infrastructure drive. Despite the Nov. 1 casualties, Belgrade remains determined to see the project through.
“If we are all committed together, we will build a high-speed railway from Budapest through Belgrade, Skopje and Thessaloniki,” said PM Vučević. “So we will connect Central Europe with Greece, that is, with the Mediterranean part of Europe.”
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