Orders to Question Chinese Nationals Involved in Canopy Collapse Case Repeatedly Ignored

Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade (BETAPHOTO/Ana Slovic)

As part of the investigation into the Nov. 1, 2024 concrete canopy collapse at the newly-renovated Novi Sad Central railway station, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime requested on eight separate occasions that police question key individuals from the Chinese companies involved in the renovations – which were part of a larger project to modernize the railway route from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border – yet not a single interview has been conducted, the May 7 edition of the Radar weekly reported.

From September 2025 through March 2026, the Interior Ministry of Serbia was presented with eight requests for necessary information, all of which remain unanswered, while a new request was recently sent following a meeting between the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the Agency for Combating Organized Crime and the Tax Police, the Prosecutor’s Office stated. 

“As a result of the meeting, a new request for gathering the necessary information which encompasses all those previously sent was issued to the Agency for Combating Organized Crime and the Tax Police,” it was explained. The Prosecutor’s Office added that all responsible contractors and subcontractors relevant to the investigation will be questioned in the foreseeable future. 

It has been 18 months since the fatal Novi Sad accident which claimed 16 lives and left one person with life-altering injuries.

Meanwhile, the Novi Sad Higher Court has stopped proceedings against six suspects in the canopy case, including three former state officials: former minister Goran Vesic, his assistant Anita Dimioski and Jelena Tanaskovic, the former director of the publicly-owned Infrastrukture Zeleznice Srbije (Serbian Railway Infrastructure) company.

Charges against another seven people, including former Infrastrukture director Nebojsa Surlan, have been confirmed, although a court date has yet to be set.

Parallel to the Higher Court case, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has been conducting an investigation into the financial machinations surrounding the entire Novi Sad-Subotica railway modernization.

This has seen fourteen people arrested, including former ministers Tomislav Momirovic and Goran Vesic along with the representatives of domestic firms close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The charges they face are embezzling at least USD18,759,287 to the benefit of Chinese consortium CRIC-CCCC and costing the state budget USD115,558,520.43.