Toshkovski: Probe into Čair killing continues, suspects expected to be arrested soon
Toshkovski says police are still clarifying why a suspect who had been serving a sentence was at liberty when the murder occurred.
The investigation into the killing in Skopje's Čair neighbourhood remains active, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said during an appearance on Macedonian Radio Television (MRT). He told the broadcaster that authorities are still working to clarify the circumstances of the crime and expect the suspects to be arrested soon.
Toshkovski said investigators are also examining why one of the two suspects — who, he noted, had been serving a prison sentence — was at liberty at the time the killing took place.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has filed a criminal complaint against two people over the death of a 26-year-old man in Dukandzhik, the minister said.
Commenting on broader crime trends, Toshkovski provided statistics covering January–August 2026 and compared them with the same period a year earlier. He said:
“The number of murders has decreased from 19 to 12, i.e. by about 37 percent. The number of registered perpetrators has decreased from 26 to 13, and the number of victims has decreased from 20 to 12, which is a reduction of about 40 percent. Particularly pronounced reduction, by approximately 65 percent, was recorded in attempted murders. Robberies have decreased by about 40, and serious thefts by approximately 30 percent compared to the same period last year,”
He added that reports of domestic violence have risen, which he attributed to greater willingness by victims to report incidents, and highlighted a sharp increase in reckless driving cases: roughly 2,200 such offences have been recorded in the first eight months of the year — about seven times the number for the same period last year. On that point he said:
“'Safe City' helps us a lot in this area of detecting criminal acts, and that's why we have a drastic increase in the number of criminal offenses, seven times more than in the same period last year.”
Toshkovski declined to provide further operational details about the Čair investigation while enquiries continue, but reiterated the expectation that suspects will be detained soon.
Photo: press material from the event
