New Suspects in Kocani Fire Case, Measures of Precaution Issued

Another five retired police officers and chiefs, as well as one dismissed commander of the Kocani and Stip Police Stations, have been arrested in the Pulse nightclub fire case, Kanal 5 reported on Wednesday.

The search for the retired Stip chief, Sasko Dimitrov, is still underway, police said. However, Dimitrov’s son said that it was not true that his father was at large.

According to the authorities, from 2012 to 2021, without doing checks, the suspects issued and signed off on the consent documents through which the Pulse nightclub was issued the operations license even without meeting conditions.

“The suspects, as official persons employed by the Stip Internal Sector and Kocani Police Station of General Competence, didn’t act according to regulations on protection measures, i.e. didn’t make a full and detailed check regarding the issue of positive consent to issue a license to the Pulse nightclub with regards to traffic safety and public order and peace. With the issue of consents, all of them, together, enabled the legal entity to get the license to carry out hospitality activity even though it didn’t meet foreseen conditions”, the Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption said on Wednesday.

For those arrested now, measures of precaution have been issued.