In media
“It’s ridiculous that someone should be fined for the death of our loved ones”: The family of the victim in the Soko mine is furious, the surviving miner said that they should all be put in prison
After the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Nis filed an indictment for economic offense against the Resavica Public Company, its current and former acting director, because they did not have a work permit at the time when eight miners died, Sanja Trivunac, the wife of the deceased miner Nenad (37), says that she is disappointed by this news. On the other hand, miner Miloš Dimitrijević, who survived the accident, says that they “should all be put in jail” and that it is pointless to talk about any fines for the death of colleagues.
“I learned from the media that these people will be prosecuted for economic crime and that even if they are convicted, they will only pay fines.” In my opinion, it is a really ridiculous decision, that someone should be fined for the death of our loved ones. I hope that the criminal complaint filed by us as a family will be accepted and that they will be adequately punished,” said the widow of the miner.
As she goes on to say, even though more than a year has passed since the accident, the pain of losing her husband is no less.
“Believe me, it’s getting harder for me, it’s a terrible feeling that he’s gone and that now I have to do everything that we would have done together. It’s a big burden for me, I have to be with the children, replace their father, and that’s really not easy,” said Sanja.
Commenting on the attitude of the management of the company towards the families after the terrible accident, this woman says that nothing has changed.
“They literally wiped us out, we no longer exist for them even though our husbands lost their lives working for them.” “They think they don’t owe us anything and we are absolutely not interested in them anymore,” concluded this woman from Aleksin.
“What kind of fines, they should be put in jail”
Miner Saša Dimitrijević, who survived the accident, has a similar view of the prosecution’s decision to prosecute the mine managers only for economic offences.
“What kind of economic offense, what kind of fines, they should be put in prison.” This is not an adequate punishment either, because they will return from prison to their families, and my colleagues will never see their loved ones again,” said Dimitrijević.
He points out that there is full responsibility of the management of the mine for the accident and that he sincerely hopes that they will bear the consequences.
“Working conditions in the mine were like in the fifteenth century, it was known that there was methane in the pit, it could have been degassed, but no one cared about it.” It was important for them to install surveillance cameras, to watch us from home as we struggle to earn our crust of bread. “They took management positions as soon as they graduated from university, they had no idea about anything, and people died because of them,” said the miner.
As a reminder, CINS has previously announced that the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Niš filed an indictment for economic offense against Public Enterprise Resavica, its current acting director. director Saša Spasić and former acting director Marko Vuković. As stated in the indictment, which CINS had access to, they are suspected of working in the part of the Soko mine, where an accident occurred in 2022 when eight miners died and 20 were injured, without the approval of the Ministry of Mining and Energy.
If they are proven guilty in court, the Public Enterprise for Underground Coal Mining Resavica can be fined in the amount of 1.5 million to three million dinars. On the other hand, the maximum possible fine for Saša Spasić and Marko Vuković is 200,000 dinars each. The trial begins at the end of August in the Commercial Court in Kragujevac.