Trial continues over Pulse nightclub fire in Kocani
Proceedings in the Idrizovo courtroom resume with expert testimony on polyurethane foam and structural work from the 2012 reconstruction.
The trial over the Pulse nightclub fire in Kocani continues today in the courtroom at Idrizovo, within the Basic Criminal Court — Skopje, where the case is in the evidentiary phase. Judge Diana Gruevska-Ilievska is presiding and the indictment is being presented by a team of 15 public prosecutors.
At the previous hearing, construction experts answered cross-examination from the defense. Examinations focused on the materials used inside the venue — most notably polyurethane foam used for acoustic insulation — as well as reconstructions and structural interventions carried out on the building.
Professor Goran Markovski, acting as an expert from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, responded to questions raised by the defence of the first accused, Dejan Jovanov, represented by lawyer Ivana Kocevska. It was during this questioning that the expert report concluded that the suspended ceiling contained polyurethane foam.
Markovski told the court that no physical remnants of the foam were found because it had been completely consumed by the fire, but that the conclusion rests on photo documentation, video recordings, findings from other expertises and traces located in the venue. He also addressed construction interventions from a 2012 reconstruction, including the reinforcement of the inter-floor structure with steel beams.
Next steps in the procedure
Markovski clarified that the reinforcement constituted a floor slab rather than a foundation slab, because the building did not have an executed foundation slab. He also said that the team that prepared the construction expertise had received information from the building owner, Grozdan, and had relied on the team’s joint findings when dating the interventions.
With the completion of the structural expertise prepared by the Faculty of Civil Engineering at UKIM and the examination of expert witnesses, the prosecution’s presentation of evidence is expected to finish; after that the defence will begin calling its own evidence. The fire at the Pulse nightclub on 16 March 2025, during the performance of the band DNK, left 63 people dead and more than 200 injured — one of the worst tragedies in the country’s recent history.
Photo: press material from the event
