Skopje, 16 July 2025 (MIA) – The Skopje-based Appellate Court has rejected as unfounded the appeal of defendant Vasil Jovanov and resentenced him to a single prison sentence of three years and ten months for the crime of "unauthorized production and release for trade of narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursors", after the Supreme Court in May 2025 overturned the previous second-instance verdict and ordered a retrial of the case.

According to the Appellate Court, the decision was made on June 11, 2025.  

"The ruling of the Basic Criminal Court Skopje, K. No. 1439/24 dated July 31, 2024, was modified regarding the criminal sanction," the Appellate Court said, adding that Jovanov's two previous sentences of one year and of three years at a correctional facility have been changed into a single prison sentence of three years and ten months.

The Appellate Court notes that the decision will be published in full on the court's website in accordance with the Law on Management of the Court Cases in the Courts.

In February 2025, the Skopje Appellate Court rejected Vasil Jovanov's appeal for the previous offence as unfounded and upheld the appeal of the Skopje Basic Public Prosecutor's Office, changing the Skopje Criminal Court's ruling in the case of Jovanov who had been found guilty of manufacturing and selling narcotic drugs and sentenced to juvenile detention, and sentencing him to a single prison sentence of three years and ten months, but on May 7, 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict of three years and ten months in prison in the second-instance procedure and ordered a retrial of the case.

On May 13, 2025, Vasil Jovanov was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Skopje-based Criminal Court, after pleading guilty to 'serious crimes against the safety of people and property in traffic,' for fatally hitting Frosina Kulakova in January 2025 at Partizanski Odredi boulevard in downtown Skopje.

Photo: MIA archive