Vracar Knife Attack: Prosecutors Seek Detention
Milutin L., 43, was questioned by Belgrade's Higher Public Prosecutor's Office over an attempted knife murder in Vracar. He stayed silent, and prosecutors seek his detention.
Suspect Milutin L., 43, was questioned today, September 8, by Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion that he tried to kill a man with a knife in the Vracar municipality two days earlier. During questioning he exercised his legal right to remain silent and offered no defense, the prosecutor’s office said. Immediately afterward, the prosecutor asked the preliminary proceedings judge at the Belgrade Higher Court to order his detention.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the attack happened on the evening of September 6 on the sidewalk of Grcica Milenka Street. It followed a verbal argument between the two men near the scene. When the injured party, identified in the statement only by the initials M.K., walked away, the suspect went after him.
He came up behind him, wrapped an arm around his neck, and pressed the blade of a knife directly against his throat.
That is how the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade described the start of the attack in its statement on the suspect’s questioning. As the victim tried to raise his hands to defend himself, the attacker ordered him to lower them, then, according to the prosecutor’s office, pulled the blade in an attempt to kill him. He did not complete the act.
The victim managed to break free and ran down Grcica Milenka Street to a nearby fast food outlet. Staff locked the door in front of him. The suspect chased him there and smashed the glass on the door trying to get in, all while repeatedly threatening to kill him.
Offense classified as attempted murder
Under the order to conduct an investigation, Milutin L. is charged with attempted murder. In its request for detention, the prosecutor’s office stated that if left at large, the suspect could influence witnesses or reoffend in a short period. No report on the case had been published before now.
According to the news outlet Mondo, Milutin L. is already known to investigators. The outlet reports that he was sentenced to three years in prison in 2010 for drug and weapons offenses, and to six years in prison in 2017 for rape. There has been no official ruling yet on the detention request in this case.
