(Patria) - The driver of the Serbian Army armored vehicle, which on Saturday killed five people in a collision with a passenger car, has been remanded in custody for up to 30 days by the Higher Court in Kraljevo, reports Danas.rs.
He is suspected of a serious offense against public traffic. According to the Criminal Code, in Serbia, drivers who kill someone in traffic are not charged with murder, but there is a separate criminal offense against the safety of public traffic, defined by Article 297 of the Criminal Code.
This offense has several paragraphs, and one of them states that during a traffic accident one or more persons lost their lives. Therefore, although the criminal offense itself does not mention murder, it foresees the death of a person as a consequence of that act.
Also, this criminal offense does not recognize the number of fatalities, so for its existence it is irrelevant how many died. For both one and multiple fatalities, the suspect will be charged with this offense.
The driver suspected of being responsible for this traffic accident, in which five people died, three of whom were children, will not be able to be sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, because for a serious offense against public traffic safety that results in the death of one or more persons, a sentence of two to 12 years in prison is prescribed.
The range between the minimum and maximum prison sentence is ten years, because during the trial various aggravating or mitigating circumstances are taken into account.
However, in judicial practice, it is very rare for maximum prison sentences to be imposed for this offense, especially if there is at least some mitigating circumstance, which can also be that the accused has never been convicted before.
Why is a person who causes death in traffic not charged with murder or aggravated murder? The main reason why this is not possible is intent.
For the criminal offenses of murder and aggravated murder, intent is necessary, while for a serious offense against the safety of public traffic, in which a person died, intent is not required.
That is, for murder, an intention to deprive someone of life is needed, while in traffic it is sufficient that the person responsible for the death violated some traffic rule and that this led to the fatality.
Because of this, the prescribed penalty for murder is higher, so for this offense a prison sentence of five to 15 years is prescribed, while for aggravated murder a sentence of at least 10 years up to life imprisonment is prescribed.
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