Skopje, 9 March 2026 (MIA) — A witness in the Pulse nightclub fire trial testified Monday that he sold a remote activation spark system to the hip-hop duo DNK around 18 months before the fatal fire in Kochani, confessing he had also provided the band with eight high heat pyrotechnic cartridges.

Goran Ignovski, owner of the event production and stage effects firm Chkalja, told the court in Idrizovo that he had sold a pyrotechnic flash pod — the base unit used to hold and trigger stage sparks — to DNK's frontman Pancho. He said he also sold eight hot fountain cartridges to another band member known as Buco.

Ignovski admitted to personally transporting 50 to 100 Tropic brand hot fountain cartridges from Bulgaria in his car to use as product demonstrations. He said he sold them for 500 denars each. 

"That’s all I had and sold," Ignovski told the court. "It’s unprofitable," he said, adding that he could not compete with online vendors and the flea market. He also said there was no paper trail for the transactions. 

He argued, however, that those he sold the band were likely used long before the tragedy.

"In the past year and a half, they have used 100 to 200 hot fountains for their shows," he said. "They used them at every single event."

The witness also claimed the band had a history of accidents, alleging they previously set fire to speakers during a performance at Gevgelija's De Facto nightclub.

Ignovski explained that "hot fountains" — which he said use a gunpowder and magnesium mix similar to birthday cake sparklers — are widely used because they are cheaper than professional "cold" electronic fountains. 

While cold fountains do not burn the skin, a hot fountain kit costs about 150 euros, he said, compared to 500 euros for the safer alternative.

Regarding the night of the tragedy, Ignovski argued that the pyrotechnics seen in videos from the club were more powerful than the ones he supplied. 

He noted that the sparks at Pulse reached heights of more than three meters, whereas the hot fountains he once stocked had a two-meter limit.

"If they had used 1.5-meter or 2-meter fountains, there wouldn't have been a problem," he said, adding that longer-range cartridges are typically only found on the black market.

The defense attorney for Ministry of Economy officials asked why Ignovski was not the one facing charges. "Who should be on the stand?" the defense asked. "The officials who issued licenses in 2011, or this witness who smuggled pyrotechnics, kept them in his shop and sold the items that killed all these people?"

The prosecution dismissed the remark, arguing that while the pyrotechnics started the fire, the victims died "because they had nowhere to escape."

Ignovski said he has never had contact with the Pulse club's owner, Dejan Jovanov.

When asked by the defense attorney for the Market Inspectorate defendant if the band had burned down the club with illegal pyrotechnics, Ignovski answered, "Yes."

The fire that broke out in the Pulse nightclub in Kochani on March 16 killed 63 people and injured over 200. The venue was packed with mostly young people attending a concert by hip-hop duo DNK when sparks from pyrotechnic devices set the ceiling on fire.

Judge Diana Gruevska Ilievska is presiding over the trial. The prosecution, represented by a team of 15 public prosecutors, said evidence would show that the Pulse nighclub was a death trap from the beginning, the result of systemic negligence and a series of institutional failures.

Thirty-four people and three legal entities have been charged over the deadly fire, including owners, managers, inspectors, former mayors, security guards and civil servants. mr/