Skopje, 12 August 2024 (MIA) – A Skopje public prosecutor to the Criminal Court in Skopje on Monday send an indictment against a man over the kidnapping and murder of Panche Zhezhovski from Veles and Vanja Gjorchevska, a 14-year-old girl from Skopje.

The public prosecution said the man will be indicted for murder and kidnapping, punishable according to the criminal code.

Also, a prosecutor filed a motion proposing that the man and four other people should be tried together after being accused for the same crime. “They are indicted for the same crimes committed by several people, their actions are linked from the aspect of time, place and the way the crimes were committed all the while there is the same evidence,” said a press release. 

The men planned to kidnap the 14-year-old Vanja Gjorcheska with the purpose of forcing a member from her immediate family to pay ransom.

“On November 22, 2023, the man together with the three men, already accused, kidnapped Panche Zhezhovski from Veles to force him to give them his vehicle to be used for the kidnapping of the teenager. The accused went to the man’s house, assaulted him tying him up before putting him in the trunk of the car, in which he was transported to an area in the vicinity of Veles, where he was shot with a 9mm pistol,” said the press release.

On November 27, 2023, it added, the accused were aided by the girl’s parent in her kidnapping from a residential building in downtown Skopje. “She was tied up and transported to a nearby village where she was killed.”

The prosecution requests that the detention of the man is extended. 

After being reported missing on November 27 and 24, the teenage girl Vanja and Panche from Veles were found dead on December 3, 2023.

Having spent five months in extradition jail in Turkey, Ljupcho Palevski Palcho, the prime suspect for the double murder, was extradited to the country in May.

Velibor Manev, Vlatko Keshishov and Bore Vidoeski, who are currently serving pre-trial detention, are charged with aiding and abetting.

Vanja’s father, Aleksandar Gjorchevski, has been put in house arrest after being suspected of aiding his daughter’s kidnapping.

A court ordered precautionary measures for Stefan Dimovski, the driver of the double murder suspect, who is suspected of helping Palevski flee the country. 

MIA file photo