"My child's life worth only 1 year?" Father of Marijana (17) desperate after verdict against driver

Marijana Kocic/ Photo: D. K.

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After a Nis Ekspres bus driver Milan Zdravkovic was found guilty of causing a traffic accident in Donje Medjurovo on December 21, 2018, when eight people were killed and 29 injured, some of the family members of the victims expressed their dissatisfaction with the sentence.

"I want to ask the prosecutor and the lawyers if my child's life is worth one year. Let them put themselves in my shoes," said Srecko Kocic, the father of 17-year-old Marijana Kocic, one of the victims of the accident - alluding to the eight years in prison the prosecutor sought for the eight deaths.

Judge Bojan Pavic responded by explaining that this is the maximum sentence the law allows.

"More could neither be sought, nor given," Pavic explained.

Apart from Srecko, only the husband of Natasa Jankovic, who also died in the crash, commented on the court's ruling.

"The verdict is as expected," Jankovic said.

The driver, Milan Zdravkovic, said in his closing statement that he was sorry for the accident.

"I express my remorse and regret about what happened, and I still have nightmares," Zdravkovic said before the sentencing.

On that fateful December 21, 2018, his bus collided with a train.

(D.S.)