(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
AFP
Belgrade: A 21-year-old man was on Thursday sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty at a Serbian court of killing nine people in a mass shooting spree.
Uros Blazic gunned down his victims, the youngest of whom was aged 14, in the villages of Dubona and Malo Orasje, about 50 kilometres (32 miles) from Belgrade on May 4 last year.
Twelve others were wounded in the shooting, which came just a day after a 13-year-old student killed nine of his classmates and a security guard at his school in the centre of the capital.
The back-to-back shooting shocked Serbians and saw President Aleksandar Vucic vow to launch a large-scale disarmament plan to remove hundreds of thousands of guns from the country.
Blazic was given the maximum 20-year sentence in a fast-tracked trial as he was aged under 21 at the time of the offences, angering families of the victims.
Had he been older he would have faced a life term.
The lawyer for the victims' families, Stefan Stefanovic, stated that he was satisfied that Blazic received the maximum sentence but not with its length.
"The families did not receive full justice. What else needs to happen for the executive and legislative authorities to change the law?" Stefanovic said.
The attacker's father, Radisa Blazic, was also sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of illegal possession of firearms.
The prosecutor accused him of "creating the conditions for the crime" by acquiring the weapon used in the massacre and other firearms found in their home.
Blazic's trial -- at a high-security court typically reserved for organised crime and war crimes cases -- was completed in four months, a record for the Serbian judiciary.
It was moved after outbursts from family members of his victims.
Blazic, in his closing statement, told the court: "These are heinous acts that I committed. I deserve the harshest punishment.
"I can only say that I am guilty and ready to face the consequences."
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