Supreme Court annuls appellate verdict in Laskarci bus crash; case sent back for retrial

The Supreme Court of North Macedonia has annulled the Appellate Court's verdict in the Laskarci bus crash case and returned the file for a new decision, the court announced after a session on 9 September.

Supreme Court grants extraordinary review

The Criminal Council at the Supreme Court reviewed the case registered as KVP2-86/25 after the convicted persons, through their legal defenders, filed petitions for extraordinary review of the final judgment.

"The petitions for extraordinary review of the final judgment, filed by the convicts through their counsels, are granted, the judgment of the Appellate Court in Skopje KŽ-979/24 of 17.04.2025 is annulled and the case is returned for retrial and reconsideration," the Supreme Court said in a statement.

The case relates to a 2019 traffic accident near the village of Laskarci in which a Durmo Tours bus left the road; 16 people were killed and more than 30 were injured.

On 9 May the Appellate Court in Skopje had increased several prison terms in the case: the owner Beluli's sentence was raised from four to ten years, Miftari's from six to ten years, and driver Manuel Trifunovski remained sentenced to 14 years. Three other employees at the vehicle inspection station received prison terms of 5 and 7 years.

With the Supreme Court's decision, the appellate judgment is voided and the prosecution and defence will face another round of proceedings in the lower court.

Photo: press material from the event