Parents respond after Shilegov warns Puls case could fall

Parents of victims in the Puls nightclub fire in Kočani pushed back after defence lawyer Petre Shilegov warned at a court hearing that the Puls case might “fall” like other cases if recent Supreme Court rulings are not taken into account.

At the start of the hearing, Shilegov — defence counsel for former Ministry of Economy adviser Shofket Hazari, who is accused in the Puls case — urged the Public Prosecutor's Office to consider two recent Supreme Court decisions in which verdicts were quashed because causal links between accused persons were not proven.

Shilegov told the court: "And even 6–7 years from now, we must avoid the same happening in this case; we should not waste resources in vain."

During a break, parents of the victims reacted sharply to that appeal.

Parents insist the Puls case must be treated on its own facts

Parent Aleksandar Naunov told journalists that Shilegov was again asking the Prosecution to reassess the criminal facts by citing other cases, but that those cases cannot be equated with the 13-year illegal operation of Puls. "Lawyer Petre Shilegov again asks the Public Prosecutor's Office to reconsider the criminal-legal event, citing other cases. But you cannot put the 13-year illegal operation of 'Puls' in the same basket with another indictment. These are different cases and different bases of responsibility," he said.

Naunov added that the parents know precisely why the defendants are on the bench. "Who was supposed to guarantee the safety of citizens and lawful operation if not the competent institutions? Then why do the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, the Ministry of Economy, the State Market Inspectorate and other control bodies exist? Who was obliged to check safety plans, project reports, minimum technical conditions and licences? It is precisely the illegal actions and failures to act that are laid at the defendants' door, which, according to the indictment, contributed to endangering human lives and to the tragic consequences," he said.

The trial then continued with testimony from Osmanli Jorgov, a technical expert who prepared an expert finding at the request of the accused Milka Edrovska, an engineer from the company Venci Projekt.

Naunov also referred to the testimony of the Venci Projekt expert and raised questions about project documentation that, according to the court record, had been prepared before the Puls reconstruction. "Who checked and approved that documentation? Were legal procedures observed and how was its use permitted? The documentation must not be a cover for hiding illegalities, nor an excuse for institutional failures. If the competent authorities had acted in time and closed the facility, 'Puls' would not have been operating on 16 March 2025! And we, the parents, paid the price for those failures with the most sacred thing we had — our children," he said.

The case is now in the evidentiary phase with the defence presenting evidence; the defence has announced more than 240 witnesses. The process began on 19 November 2025, when — eight months after the tragedy — 35 natural persons and three legal entities took their places on the defendants' bench. In the meantime one of the accused, Ljupcho Grnchishtanov, has died.

The trial is presided over by Judge Dijana Gruevska-Ilievska and the indictment is prosecuted by a team of 15 public prosecutors. The fire at Puls in Kočani, on 16 March 2025 during a performance by the band DNK, killed 63 people and injured more than 200 — one of the deadliest disasters in the country’s recent history.

Photo: press material from the event