Goran Vesic still free instead of in detention: courts have been ‘corresponding’ for two months

More than two months have passed since the Novi Sad Court of Appeal reconfirmed the indictment against seven defendants over the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy – a tragedy in which 16 people lost their lives. Four of the defendants were returned to house arrest, but former minister Goran Vesic and his former deputy Anita Dimoski remain free, officially “due to a technical error”.

According to the response the Higher Court in Novi Sad gave to television N1, the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions informed the court that it could not act on the decision: the maximum three-month duration of the measure must be calculated from the day the house-detention measure was revoked – set by a decision of the Higher Court in Belgrade – while the electronic monitoring device was removed on 30 January 2026. In other words, the new house-arrest measures for Vesic and Dimoski are calculated from a date that already passed at the end of January.

Meanwhile, the two courts have been exchanging letters for weeks. The Higher Court says it addressed the Court of Appeal three times – with letters of 31 July, 10 August and 20 August – forwarding the case file, “after doubts arose about the admissibility of enforcing” the Appeal’s decision of 15 June, which extended the house-detention measure. On 16 September the file was returned to the Higher Court together with the requested interpretation, and now the non-trial criminal panel of the Higher Court in Novi Sad must decide by a separate ruling why the two officials are still free.

Lawyer Veljko Milic, the defense counsel of one of the defendants in the “Canopy” case – who was immediately placed under house arrest as soon as the Appeal confirmed the indictment – says there is little chance this is a technical error. “In a case of this importance, such errors cannot happen. These are easily verifiable facts, which the court could have checked before taking the decision in question. This is just one indication that unusual situations always happen in connection with the same persons,” the lawyer said.

The question of Vesic’s whereabouts has been current since December 2024. The former minister is officially indicted for a serious offense against general safety, but although under the Appeal’s decision he should have been under house arrest, he – like his former deputy – continues to remain free.

Source: Danas