Former Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi and former Director of the State Market Inspectorate Goran Trajkovski were handcuffed and, along with 14 other people, were briefly detained as those responsible for the tragedy that occurred at the Pulse disco in Kocani, in which 59 young people died. Although the government announced from the beginning that it would not create a media circus, these suspects and their detention in police stations, especially Bekteshi, were filmed and shown live on television and on portals.

Among those detained are members of the disco's security team, who told the public that they felt like heroes because they saved hundreds of injured people.

The latest information from the court and the Prosecutor's Office is that the suspects will be prosecuted for "serious crimes against public security," and the detentions are expected to be extended.

– The court in Kocani accepted the request of the Prosecutor's Office to determine a measure of short-term detention for 16 suspects for a duration of 48 hours. Some of them are suspected of "serious crimes against public security" under Article 292 of the Criminal Code, and acts of accepting and giving bribes, as well as illegal procurement of pyrotechnics, are also being investigated – the Kocani court announced.

The mayor is free.

Unlike them, the mayor of Kocani, Ljupco Papazov, who resigned, no one saw or filmed him going out alone, without a police escort from the Kocani prosecutor's office, without the status of a suspect in the investigation, even though he had led the small town for almost four years.

– The mayor was questioned, who provided certain clarifications and information. Such a statement is being compared with the evidentiary material and the competencies of the municipality, after which a decision will be made on his further status in the procedure – informs the Prosecutor's Office.

Before the mayor was released by the Prosecutor's Office, a priest from Kocani calmed the angry crowd of people who were stoning the house of the now former mayor. He begged the citizens in the name of God to disperse and claimed that among the crowd there were people who had been politically instructed.

– Please, in the name of God, let's go and bury the children, then if you want, burn the city. Please, listen to me. Pray in church, it's not nice what you've started – the priest told them.

Together with the statements of the Minister of Interior Pance Toshkovski and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, who call for calm when the mayor is mentioned, all this with the priest, with the moment of the mayor's release who has not appeared in public, seems to some of the residents of Kocani like a deliberate scenario to hide the revolt of the city where every second family is blackened.

Toshkovski, in a television appearance, called for reason when mentioning the mayor.

– We must be reasonable, we must work according to the law, we must take actions that willè "Bring justice to justice. You cannot bring justice to anyone through injustice," said Toshkovski.

Mickoski, on the other hand, answering a journalist's question whether the mayor of Kocani will bear some responsibility in connection with the fire in the disco, announced that the investigative authorities will check all documents in the Municipality during the day. He is of the opinion that no one will be protected and anyone who has any guilt in connection with the event will be held accountable.

– He is not running away, he is here. If you are now pleading that he is VMRO-DPMNE, so we are protecting him, no, you are wrong. We will not protect anyone. Let VMRO be holy, and let me be his own sister, let him be my brother, he will be held accountable if he is guilty of any crime – Mickoski answered questions about the mayor.

Is the government amnestied from responsibility?

Professor Gordan Kalajdziev, when asked by "Sloboden Pechat" whether the government is amnestied from responsibility for the tragedy that occurred in Kocani in which 59 young people died, given that officials from the former government were arrested yesterday, and the mayor of Kocani, Ljupco Papazov,è He does not yet have the status of a suspect, he said: "It seems so. It is too early to make any assessments, we honestly do not know how far the investigations have gone and what is PR. Now they are spinning, they are afraid of a Serbian scenario."

He commented on the tragedy in a series of comments on Facebook, and in some of them he said that parties cannot fight corruption.

"They are a breeding ground for corruption. Only an independent prosecutor can lead that fight," Kalajdziev wrote.

He also asked the question "How can one go to detention with one forgery and another to office," alluding to the controversial diploma and English language certificate of the current director of the National Security Agency, Bojan Hristovski.

However, according to the anger of the citizens, they themselves locate the responsibility in this tragedy. They poured the greatest anger on the mayor, in front of the police station in Kocani and, of course, on the informal owner of the disco, Dejan Jovanov, whom they know in Kocani as Deko, who is not officially listed as the manager of the company "MMMM Cafe" that operated the disco.

Citizens pointed to the culprits

The "Classic" cafe in the center of Kocani was demolished, also owned by Deko, who had filed for bankruptcy for the previous company "Kalsik" and the company was taken over by another company with a manager who was a manager at the disco and who was seriously injured and sent for treatment abroad. The citizens also overturned a car owned by Jovanov. They broke the door of the municipality, then threw eggs and stones at Papazov's house and said that Papazov's moral responsibility alone would not be enough. They also demanded responsibility in front of the police station where they were told "please, don't", but one boy shouted and asked: "Is money being laundered here?"

Otherwise, according to the Law on Catering Activities, the owner of the facility, after fulfilling the necessary conditions, should register with the State Market Inspectorate and the Municipality at least 15 days before the start of operations of the catering facility.

"Sloboden Pechat" contacted the current director of the State Market Inspectorate, Goran Stojkovski.

– From what we already have, and it is already public, the last control is in 2022, but investigations are also being carried out in that direction. I ask for your understanding, you will have appropriate information soon, the investigative bodies are working. The Ministry of Economy is coming out, I am an investigative body that is obliged by them and the prosecutor to cooperate with them – said Stojkovski.

As he stated, all controls at discos are coordinated by the Ministry of Interior. There were also police officers in the disco during the fire, one of whom died in the fire.