Vucic Announces New Measures after Latest Mass Murder in Serbia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic presenting the new measures (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on May 5 that, after two shootings in Belgrade and in Mladenovac which claimed the lives of 17 people and left 20 people injured in their wake, that he had proposed that the Serbian cabinet reinstate the death penalty, but that Prime Minister Ana Brnabic declined citing "some smart conventions."

Discussing new measures after the two mass murders in the Serbian capital and its suburb, Vucic said that 1,200 new police officers would be hired in the next six months and posted to schools and that each of Belgrade's 331 schools would have its own police officer.

He added that he proposed to the Serbian cabinet that the death penalty be reinstated, but that Prime Minister Ana Brnabic declined saying that by doing so Serbia would become the only European country in addition to Belarus to practice capital punishment. "I used to be against the death penalty. Now I bitterly regret that political stance," the president said.

Presenting the new measures, Vucic said he had ordered the Interior Ministry to prepare amendments to legislation on weapons and ammunition to tighten the conditions for gun ownership "urgently, outside procedure." He announced that the owners of the remaining weapons, including hunters, would undergo evaluation every six and 12 months -- from medical, psychiatric and psychological examinations to mandatory testing for psychoactive substances.