SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
On Monday, in the frames of the trial over the 2023 double kidnapping murder of Vanja Gjorcevska and Pance Zezovski, the girl’s father, Aleksandar Gjorcevski, who’s among the defendants, testified. While crying, he said he hadn’t been involved at all in his daughter’s kidnapping and murder.
In his testimony, he also talked about his relationship with his children and ex-wife, Zorica, as well as about drug addiction problems when he was young.
Gjorcevski stated that he was not connected at all to these people who had no regret, but rather were disappointed by the so-called Tsar (alluding to the three other defendants, Bore Videvski, Velibor Manev, Kesisev, and Velibor Manev, and the principal defendant Ljupco Palevski, respectively).
Gjorcevski stated that he hadn’t known the other defendants at all, adding that he’d heard about Palevski when there had been talk of the Tiffany facility. According to his testimony, Zorica told him on 27 November 2023 that Vanja was gone.
Afterwards, they were searching the area and place where the last signal from her cell phone came, which was followed by them going to the cops, Gjorcevski explained.
“Multiple scenarios were going through my mind” about what had happened to her, including whether she’d been kidnapped by dealers or hit by a car and taken to a hospital, he explained.
According to Gjorcevski, he set off for the Blace crossing, but returned. The defendant also confirmed that he’d sent a message to a group of parents on Viber, but also that he’d deleted it because, as he said, he considered police were having suspicions about him.
Gjorcevski explained how, as he said, he and Goce Trajkovski had managed to get the footage showing the Citroen vehicle, which made them suspicious. Afterwards, according to him, he tried to indicate the information that it belonged to a Veles person (Zezovski) to police. However, when he went to the station, he realised several people had been arrested.
“I asked the inspectors whether something had happened. They said in response, ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know, you are now going to tell us what happened.’ One of the inspectors made absurd accusations, saying that I had duct-taped her mouth, that I knew everything. The physical torture was taking place simultaneously. They said that in another area, the kidnappers had confessed, sang, everything, and that I was the only one left that should confess. I said I didn’t know what I should confess to”, Gjorcevski pointed out.
According to his attorney, Vladimir Tufegdzic, the Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t have evidence against his client, though he expects it will not give up easily. The trial will continue on Friday.
