Former Serbian Minister Goran Vesić under house arrest for three months

(Patria) - The Higher Court in Novi Sad rejected the prosecutor's request to detain 13 suspects in the case concerning the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station on November 1st last year, which killed 16 people and seriously injured one person, and instead ordered house arrest for Goran Vesić, extending the measure for 12 other individuals for three months. Vesić is the former Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, and was arrested in August.

The court ordered Vesić to house arrest with electronic monitoring, prohibiting the use of a phone and internet, and receiving visitors at his apartment for a period of three months, the court announced.

Furthermore, the court extended the measure of prohibiting leaving their apartments with electronic monitoring for three months for Anita Dimoski, Jelena Tanasković, Nebojša Šurlan, Slobodan Naumović, Ljiljana Milić Marković, Marina Gavrilović, Dejan Todorović, Milan Jelkić, Zorica Slavković Marjanović, Dušan Janković, Milan Spremić, and Jasna Stojiljković Milić, with prohibitions on the use of phones and internet, and receiving visitors at their apartments.

The accident at the Novi Sad Railway Station triggered a wave of mass anti-government protests across Serbia.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets over the past ten months with a key demand: to establish criminal and political responsibility for the accident.

The protests have focused on accusations that corruption led to the collapse of the canopy.