Original article (in Serbian) was published on 14/10/2025; Author: Milica Blagojević
The editor of pro-government media outlet Informer, Dragan J. Vučićević, has continued to present new conspiracy theories and alleged evidence about the canopy collapse that happened at Novi Sad railway station last year. This month, on his television channel, he spoke about a “strange” device photographed on the canopy’s counterweights before the tragedy. However, that device has actually been in the same spot since at least March 2022, and its presence is not proving anything at all.
Nearly a year after the collapse of the canopy at the newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad that happened last year on November 1 – there are still no convictions for the deaths of 16 people and the serious injury of another passenger. Instead of acknowledging responsibility, we are hearing conspiracy theories about “other factors” that may have caused the collapse – coming from the ruling party and pro-government media.
On his television channel, the editor-in-chief of the tabloid Informer, Dragan J. Vučićević, presented what he called “a new evidence” about the canopy collapse. These “evidence,” according to him, are photographs taken for a monograph about the railway reconstruction.
He claims they were taken shortly before the tragedy, from the terrace of a nearby café. In them, a “strange device” can be seen attached to the last counterweight, all the way to the right.
“This fact from the investigation, which prosecutors were aware of from the very beginning, was simply hidden and covered up. (…) No one knew about this detail from the investigation, this strange device on the canopy’s counterweight, except for the prosecutors or some people, I don’t know who, I won’t say the prosecutors, except for some who wanted to hide it and cover it up,” Vučićević said.
However, the “strange device” is visible in photographs and video recordings that were made earlier than the ones in the possession of Informer’s editor.
Photo: printscreen/InformerTV
The device, which looks like a small, light-colored rectangular box, can be seen on the last metal column even during the construction work at the station in January 2024.
YouTube videos show that the device was there in 2023 as well, and even a year before that. It appears in a a video from July, a photo from May, and in footage from March 2022.
Photo: Printscreen/YouTube video by TV Kanal 9 (The video was published on July 28, 2022)
Although Vučićević claims that the existence of the device was covered up and hidden from the public, the device had been in the same place and plainly visible to citizens for at least two and a half years before the canopy collapsed.
His “discovery” was picked up not only by Informer but also by other pro-government media outlets. They all presented it as new evidence of the canopy collapse, even though the device’s mere presence proves nothing by itself.
Raskrikavanje sent questions to Serbia Railways Infrastructure as well as to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad. However, by the time this article was published, we had not received answers regarding what type of device it is.
In a similar tone, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić recently appeared on Pink TV showing footage of Novi Sad opposition politician Miša Bačulov walking around the station a few hours before the tragedy. Raskrikavanje has already reported on the inconsistencies in his presentation.
The president did not explain what the footage was supposed to prove, but just like with Vučićević it sounded like he further developed the narrative of sabotage or terrorism. Such theories also surfaced this summer in Informer, which, without evidence, published claims that the canopy collapse was an “act of terrorism.”
Raskrikavanje has written about those unfounded speculations as well. At the time, the claims were based on an unnamed source, and the alleged culprit for obstructing the investigation was identified as Slobodan Josimović, a prosecutor from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad.
It was prosecutor Josimović whom Dragan J. Vučićević mentioned again while explaining his “new evidence”.
“After the canopy collapse, when prosecutor Josimović issued an order for all remains of the canopy to be removed during the night, immediately between November 1 and 2, 2024, so that all traces would effectively be destroyed – you can see that device at the scene during the clearing,” Vučićević said.
However, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad issued a statement back in July this year, disputing the claims that mention terrorism.
“An analysis and examination of more than twenty samples of collected traces, conducted by the Technical Department of the National Forensic Crime Center of the Ministry of Interior, did not detect the presence of explosive materials, and the analysis showed that the collapse of the Railway Station canopy was not the result of terrorism.”
The same statement notes that the canopy’s debris was transported to a “secure location” guarded by the police. Access for inspection and analysis, they said, was granted only to authorized experts, with prior approval from the prosecution.
Despite this, narratives about “suspicious” circumstances, such as the “strange” device or Miša Bačulov walking through the station in the city where he lives, continue to circulate, without any concrete explanation of what exactly these “proofs” are supposed to show.
It seems that the only possibility the authorities and their media exclude is corruption.
Meanwhile, the public has a good reason for suspecting corruption, given that millions of euros of public funds were spent on renovating the station building whose canopy collapsed just a few months after its grand opening.
