The Kocani Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into a total of 34 people, seven of whom are police officers and three are legal entities. They are suspected of having committed a series of lapses and illegal actions in 2012, when the "disco of death" first began operating, and of not acting in accordance with safety regulations at all, and are responsible for the March 16 fire at the "Pulse" disco in Kocani that killed 59 people, including six minors, and seriously injured another 197 people, 25 of whom were children.

This was also announced by the public prosecutor. Ljupco Kotsevski, who said that for the entire period, the Municipality received payments based on compensation for a catering facility.

On the day of the tragedy, the owner, then the ticket seller, and the security, according to the Prosecution, allowed around 650 visitors to enter the disco that evening, including at least 31 children.

– One of the suspects sold tickets without taking into account the number and age of guests who were allowed to attend, contrary to the Law on Catering Activities, allowing minors to enter and attend the event. They did not prevent pyrotechnic fountains that were used at the performance from being brought into the disco, even though they did not have a mandatory permit issued by the competent authorities to handle pyrotechnic devices for that action, nor did the spatial conditions allow the use of such pyrotechnic devices – said Kocevski.

A member of the DNK group is also suspected of importing and using the pyrotechnics. Among those arrested is the owner and manager of the security company from Skopje, as well as the authorized person of the branch of this company in Kocani. Unofficially, it is the Security Agency "Rubikon".

– There is a suspicion that at around 2:32 a.m., as part of the stage performance and effect, the band members activated explosives – pyrotechnic fountains that threw sparks towards the ceiling above the stage, which immediately set the roof of the building on fire and the fire spread throughout the building. In terms of security failures, the owner and manager of the security company from Skopje, the authorized person of the branch in Kocani, three employees and one person who was not employed by the company, but performed certain tasks for that company, are suspected. All of them performed physical security tasks, without any prior security assessment and security plan, without checking the fire protection and fire hazard conditions, as well as other safety conditions, especially in terms of hazards and evacuation possibilities. During the critical evening, they did not control and allow children to enter the facility, did not take care of the overcrowding of the capacity, and did not prevent the entry and use of explosive substances - pyrotechnics that caused the fire and caused the accident in the facility - said Kocevski.

The prime suspect is Dejan Jovanov Deco, who is the tenant of the building where the club is located, the real owner and bearer of the entire business. Along with him, two other responsible persons, co-owners or managers for a certain period of time in the legal entity, whose subsidiary the club is, i.e. the company "MMMM Cafe", are also suspected.

The basic project was prepared back in 2010.

According to the Prosecution, Jovanov gave money for the forged license to an employee of the Ministry of Economy to issue him a license for the period from February 13, 2024 to February 13, 2025 for a cabaret, even though he did not meet the requirements.

The basic project, as a condition for starting work on Jovanov's cabaret, was prepared for him by the owner and manager of a suspected legal entity from Kocani back in 2010.

At the request of the suspected owner, although she knew that there were no legal requirements for the facility to be converted from a light industry category to a facility that performs catering and cabaret activities, she nevertheless prepared a project for him, and with it the owner continuously received licenses to perform catering activities from 2012 to 2023.

In 2023, he approached the suspect to make corrections to the basic project, and she, without conducting on-site checks, illegally changed the legal entities in the basic project, thereby enabling the cabaret to submit license applications.

– The Ministry of Economy has so far accused a former minister, as well as a former state secretary, a sector head, a department head and a junior associate, who are currently working in the Ministry, but in other management positions. All of them, by failing to perform their official duties that they were legally obliged to perform, did not act according to the regulations and technical rules for protection measures, and the suspected legal entity, which did not meet the prescribed conditions and manner for performing catering activities, was repeatedly granted licenses to perform catering activities – said Kocevski.

Two former directors of the State Market Inspectorate and three inspectors are also suspected because not once from 2020 until the tragedy did they enter and inspect the illegal disco to determine whether it has a valid license, whether it meets the reported minimum technical requirements, listed in the cabaret license application, and other prescribed conditions by law.

Three mayors of Kocani also detained

Three mayors – Ratko Dimitrovski, Nikolcho Ilievski и Ljupcho Papazov – who ran Kocani during the period when the “disco of death” was operating, have completed the list of suspects who were part of the corrupt system that killed 59 young people. During their time, the disco, which the authorities called a “shed,” had been operating smoothly since 2012 and none of them had closed it.

After the tragedy, many rules and regulations were cited that the discotheque did not respect, but even without knowing the laws, everyone in the city knew about the club, all the police officers, not only from the city, all the employees of the municipal institutions that were supposed to enforce the laws, and the "bigwigs" from all parties. Mayors, by definition, should know which catering facilities on their territory have a permit to operate, especially cabaret-type facilities, such as "Pulse" in this particular case, and the caterer is obliged to notify both the State Market Inspectorate and the municipality before starting work.

Dimitrovski led the Municipality from 2009 to 2017, and before he was arrested last night, he shared information according to which, when he was mayor, the Municipality of Kochani sent a request to the State Market Inspectorate not to issue a license for a disco to Dejan Jovanov DOO Klasik DM. Dimitrovski is a businessman and owner of the printing house "Evropa 92", and was one of the suspects in the "Postal Bank" case. He has been in politics for many years - from 2008 to 2012 he was an MP, but he was also among the donors of VMRO-DPMNE. His company during the time when he was prime minister Nikola Gruevski won several state tenders, including one for "1.050 books." In the period from 2013 to 2017 alone, the printing house "Evropa 92", of which Dimitrovski was also the manager, concluded contracts worth over 700.000 euros.

Dimitrovski was succeeded as head of the Municipality in 2017 by Nikolcho Iliev, proposed by the coalition led by SDSM. Iliev is also a private businessman, founder and manager of the textile company "INT" from Kocani, and was also the manager of several companies, including Vinka AD Vinica.

Papazov, who resigned after the Pulse disaster, also had companies. He also declared a limited liability company - LLC "Flakda" as joint property, and in the name of his children - LLC "Flamingo".

Police officers in custody, chiefs free

Although seven police officers were taken into custody, there is still no accountability for the seven chiefs dismissed by the Minister of Interior. Pance ToshkovskiFor now, Toshkovski sees no fault in them, although he said that the police officers who were at the disco that evening were implementing an operational plan, that is, they were "hunting" for minors.

– Neither the Chief of the Kocani Internal Affairs Department nor the Chief of the Shtip Internal Affairs Department are among the persons who were questioned, and it is true that within the Ministry of Interior, the Department for Internal Control is conducting a thorough analysis of the factual situation related to the criminal-legal event. Expect us to share all related information with what will be determined by the Department for Internal Control in the coming days – said Toshkovski, but he said that the investigation will not stop here and everyone involved in the tragedy, directly and indirectly, will be held accountable.