Skopje, 1 June 2025 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on Sunday rejected as unfounded the accusations from the opposition party that together with Chief Prosecutor Kocevski he was protecting former chief of the Shtip Sector for Internal Affairs, Dejan Saltirovski, against whom no charges have been filed in connection with the Kochani nightclub fire. Mickoski called on SDSM not to profit politically from this terrible tragedy.

"Of course there is no truth in that. I regret that SDSM and installations in the opposition are trying to abuse this tragedy in a miserable way. What they are doing is inhumane, but I leave it to the citizens to judge and pass judgment," Mickoski said in response to reporters' questions after Sunday's visit to the Public Health Institute.   

He pointed out that the Chief Prosecutor Kocevski "can in no way be close to VMRO-DPMNE", noting that Kocevski was appointed at the proposal of the previous government, just as prosecutors Gavril Bubevski and Islam Abazi, he added.   

"SDSM, DUI and other political parties may underestimate the public, but the public is aware and knows very well who is behind the choice of these three names - Abazi, Bubevski and Kocevski. On one occasion in the Parliament, I was reading the list of MPs who voted for Ljupcho Kocevski. He can be anything, but in no way he can be close to VMRO-DPMNE. He was clearly voted for by the majority in Parliament and in the government in which SDSM and DUI were members, at the proposal of the then First Deputy Prime Minister, Artan Grubi. Of course, I reject these unfounded accusations and I call on SDSM, but also the others who are trying to profit politically from this terrible tragedy, not to do so," Mickoski pointed out. 

Photo: MIA 

Video: Government