Original article (in Serbian) was published on 15/5/2025; Author: Milica Ljubičić
Two years after two major mass murders that shocked Serbia, pro-regime media, as well as the highest state officials, are fueling conspiracy theories. The latest in the series are tabloid claims that the father of the minor K.K. and Uros Blazic, who committed the murders in villages near Mladenovac, allegedly travelled together to Belgrade on a direct flight from the German city of Cologne on April 15, 2023, just two weeks before the murders were committed. This was recently claimed by the father of a young man who died in the Dubona massacre, and the claim was then sensationally picked up by several domestic news web portals. However, according to available flight information from Germany to Serbia on that date, there is no evidence that a direct flight from Cologne to Belgrade existed.
On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the mass murders at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School and in the villages of Dubona and Malo Orasje, speculation has reemerged in domestic media about a connection between the two crimes and the alleged influence of foreign actors.
On May 12, Informer published a text claiming that “Kecmanovic and Blazic flew to Belgrade together before the crimes”, citing statements from Milosav Todorovic, the father of one of the young men killed in the Dubona massacre.
Todorovic made this claim earlier in May during an appearance on Happy TV in the show” Posle rucka”.
“I receive information every day. I have information that Uros Blazic and the father of K.K. flew in on the same day, April 15, on the Cologne-Belgrade route. Can that be just a coincidence?”, Todorovic said at the time. This statement was shared by several web portals such as Informer, Republika, and RTVBN, even though it would have been relatively easy to verify whether a direct flight between those two cities even exists.
He did not specify who provided him with the information or on what basis he was certain it was true. In the same interview, Todorovic said that a “terrorist act” occurred in Serbia and that “foreign intelligence services are involved and want to overthrow the current government”.
He allegedly claims to have heard the mother of convicted Uroc Blazic say that “the Germans did all sorts of things to her son in Germany”. Informer uncritically repeated this claim as well.
What could be verified from these statements is the claim that Kecmanovic and Blazic arrived on a direct flight from Cologne on April 15, 2023, just over two weeks before the mass murders occurred.
According to official data provided to Raskrikavanje by Belgrade Airport, no direct flight from Cologne was recorded on April 15, 2023, contradicting the claim that Blazic and Kecmanovic’s father arrived together.
Interestingly, even the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, voiced similar suspicions earlier this year about alleged foreign intelligence involvement in the mass murders that took place in Serbia on May 3 and 4, 2023.
“I’m not a supporter of conspiracy theories, but strange things happened around Ribnikar”, Vucic said earlier this year on Pink TV.
“That drew great attention from foreigners, especially regarding the treatment of the monster killer (K.K). In my office, they asked us to hand over K.K. That alone isn’t enough proof for me, but I’m saying that happened exactly the day after”, Vucic stated, adding that a representative from “a foreign country and a foreign service” asked for K.K. to be handed over to them.
In addition to Vucic, conspiracy theories about Ribnikar were also spread by Sasa Borojevic and Branimir Nestorovic. Last year, Borojevic claimed that the Ribnikar mass shooting was a “terrorist act” and accused SBB of hiding crucial data about the boy killer. During a guest appearance on TV Prva in February last year, Branimir Nestorovic claimed that the mass murders were carried out with the aim of destabilizing the country, adding that the events “smelled of various intelligence services”.
Despite such claims, there is currently no evidence of foreign intelligence involvement in the mass murders that occurred on May 3 and 4, 2023, in Serbia.
The parents of the minor boy K.K. who killed nine students and a school guard on May 3, 2023, in a mass shooting at Vladislav Ribnikar School in Belgrade, have been sentenced in the first-instance ruling to a total of 17 years and six months in prison.
Earlier, in mid-December 2024, Uros Blazic was also sentenced in the first instance to 20 years in prison for the massacre in Dubona and Malo Orasje, where he killed nine and wounded 12 young people on the night of May 4, 2023, in the villages between Mladenovac and Smederevo.
At the same time, his father, Radisa Blazic, was also sentenced to 20 years for the illegal possession of weapons used in the crime.
Editor of Cenzolovka: Part of the media repeats the government narrative, avoids demanding accountability
Commenting on the fact that pro-government media, and even government officials, are spreading conspiracy theories about the May 2023 mass murders instead of calling for accountability, Perica Gunjic, editor of the web portal Cenzolovka, says these media are merely echoing messages from the top of the government.
“It’s perfectly clear they are just repeating the government’s narrative. Their goal is to convince the public that all these horrific tragedies, including the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad, are part of some kind of conspiracy theory”, says Gunjic.
He emphasizes that the authorities, instead of investigating responsibility for failures or possible corruption, are using the media to shift that responsibility onto alleged foreign enemies.
“It’s horrifying that they justify the arrogance and corruption of their own people through the media like this, by accusing supposed global intelligence services”.
Gunjic warns that such a narrative has serious consequences, not just for public discourse, but most importantly for the families of the victims.
“All those who advocate for establishing the facts are now made to feel like they are on trial, as if they don’t understand what the government and the entire media mainstream are saying – that all of this was actually organized by foreign services to undermine our government”, he concludes.
