Serbian court extends the arrest of twelve suspects over the station collapse

BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) – A Serbian court on Saturday ordered 10 people, including a former minister, held for up to 30 days and two people placed under house arrest over a fatal train station accident.

Fifteen people were killed when a concrete roof collapsed at the station in Novi Sad on November 1, following extensive renovation work at the facility.

Public outrage over the tragedy has regularly led to nationwide protests, with many blaming corruption and poor supervision of construction projects.

Former Construction Minister Goran Vesic and former director of Serbian railway infrastructure Nebojsa Surlan are suspected of “a criminal offense against public security,” the Supreme Court in the northern city said.

Eight other suspects have been charged with a serious breach of public safety due to improper construction work and arrested over concerns of witness tampering and public disorder.

The former acting general director of Serbian Railway Infrastructure, Jelena Tanaskovic, and another suspect have been placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring for three months, state broadcaster RTS reported.

Tanaskovic resigned after the accident.

Serbian authorities initially arrested twelve people, including Vesic, in connection with the roof collapse.

Vesic, who resigned three days after the incidents took place, later denied he had been arrested and wrote on Facebook that he had “voluntarily responded” to police.

The opposition welcomed the arrests.

Protesters are demanding the resignation of the prime minister and the mayor of Novi Sad, and want those responsible to be prosecuted.

But President Aleksandar Vucic has said there will be no further political resignations.

In addition to Vesic and Tanaskovic, Trade Minister Tomislav Momirovic, who was Construction Minister from 2020 to 2022, has also resigned.

Protesters and the opposition have demanded that the government publish the contracts it signed with the companies involved in the station’s renovation.

A consortium of four companies – China Railway International and China Communications Construction, France’s Egis and Hungary’s Utiber – were in charge of the work.

The renovation work was completed just weeks before the roof collapsed.

Fourteen people, aged between six and 74, were killed on the spot and a fifteenth died in hospital on Sunday.