None of the five witnesses summoned by the Prosecutor’s Office appeared at Thursday’s hearing in the Kochani fire trial.
The Office said two of them were in deteriorating health and requested an expert evaluation of whether they are capable of testifying at one of the upcoming hearings. Another two witnesses were unsuccessfully contacted. The Court was requested to send summons. The fifth witness, the Office added, was studying in Bulgaria at an unknown address.
In the end, the statement of a sixth witness on the Office’s list was read. He had meanwhile left to work in Germany, i.e., moved out of the country. He gave the statement in May of last year.
The witness had worked in logistics with the DNK band until October 2024. One of the key parts highlighted in his statement is that the pyrotechnics were procured on the initiative of Vladimir Blazhev (a.k.a. Pancho) and were always activated on his orders. According to his statement given to prosecutors, on March 16, 2025, the pyrotechnics were different from those used previously.