All construction interventions on the building were executed illegally, without project documentation, without professional supervision, and without approval from relevant institutions, expert witness Marijana Lazarevska stated at Monday’s hearing in the trial over the 2025 Kochani fire.
According to her, the alterations cannot be treated as a superstructure, extension, or adaptation, but rather constitute a reconstruction activity, for which a full procedure according to the law is mandatory yet was not carried out in the case. Lazarevska pointed out that converting the premises from a warehouse into a catering facility had significantly increased the load on the structure and directly affected safety.
During the recess, Aleksandar Naunov, speaking on behalf of the families of the deceased young victims, emphasized that after 17 months of fighting for the truth, the construction expertise and expert witness testimonies even more clearly exposed the years of oversights and failures to act.