Gostivar court notifies Interior it has withdrawn warrant for fugitive Remzi Miftari

The Basic Court in Gostivar has notified the Ministry of Interior that it has withdrawn the international arrest warrant for fugitive Remzi Miftari, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison before the Supreme Court annulled the conviction and returned the case to the Skopje Court of Appeals.

"After the decision of the Supreme Court, all convicted, i.e. now accused for the catastrophic traffic accident of the 'Durmo tours' bus in 2019, are free as birds. The accused Remzi Miftari is also free. He is on the run, but the Basic Court Gostivar, in accordance with the annulled judgment from the Supreme Court, withdrew the warrant for him and notified the Ministry of Interior," the Basic Court in Gostivar said.

However, the Ministry of Interior told reporters that the warrant remained active. "The Ministry of Interior has not received an official notification from the competent court that issued the warrant for its withdrawal," the ministry responded.

Supreme Court annulment and next steps

On 10 September the Council for Criminal Offences at the Supreme Court of North Macedonia, composed of president Afrim Fidani, reporting judge Džemali Saiti, Safet Kadrii, Cvetanka Periq and Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska, annulled the verdict in the case of the deadly Laskarci bus crash and returned the file to the Skopje Court of Appeals for re‑examination.

The bus accident occurred in February 2019; due to human error a bus operated by the company Durmo Tours overturned, killing 16 passengers and injuring 30. The company had been a sponsor of the then‑ruling DUI party. Bereaved relatives and survivors repeatedly criticised the pace and handling of the trial, citing delays in expert assessments and the decision by judge Dijana Gruevska-Ilievska to order a supplementary expertise.

On 8 May 2025 the Skopje Court of Appeals previously increased several prison terms on appeal by the prosecutor Darko Jakimovski: the transport manager Remzi Miftari’s sentence was raised from six to ten years, the sentences of the two employees at the technical inspection station, Igor Gjorgjievski and Goran Dukovski, were raised from five to seven years, Jane Bovarovski remained at five years, and driver Manoil Trifunovski received 14 years. The appeals court will now rehear the case.

Photo: SDK.MK)