Skopje, 24 April 2025 (MIA) - In response to an MP question on how far along is the investigation into the tragedy in Kochani, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said the Government, as the executive branch, will act upon the order of the Public Prosecutor's Office, in coordination with the court, noting that the investigation is being led by the Chief Prosecutor, not the PM. He added that the Prosecutor's Office, together with the court, say what measures and which people will be included in the investigation, and whether top government officials should be detained. 

At Thursday's Q&A session in Parliament, SDSM MP Mitko Trajchuleski posed a question to PM Mickoski, asking how far along is the investigation into the Kochani tragedy and whether there would be moral responsibility regarding the tragedy that claimed 62 young people's lives and left over 100 injured.

"After more than a month, we can clearly conclude that there is no moral responsibility among the top government officials, there is no sense of moral responsibility, and therefore today we do not have a single resignation for moral reasons. This is devastating for a government after a tragedy of this magnitude, with such a large number of human lives lost. But morality is not up for debate, a person either has it or does not have it. The second conclusion is that a selective investigation is being conducted, one that should essentially protect the current office holders at the Ministry of Interior, the State Market Inspectorate and other institutions. My question is whether the conscious and tendentious undermining of the investigation is aimed at obstructing justice and protecting current officials who are directly responsible for the immediate causes of the fire," said Trajchuleski. 

PM Mickoski responded that the investigation into the Kochani tragedy is being led by the Chief Prosecutor, not the Government.

"Five months from today, the campaign for the local elections will begin. Citizens will say whose political career ends, whose political career continues, and in what format it will continue. The investigation is being led by the Chief Prosecutor. Not by me, and not by the Government. If the Chief Prosecutor decides that I should be detained, I will be detained at that instant. If the Chief Prosecutor decides that I should go to prison, I will go to prison," said Mickoski. 

He added that he doesn't know which individuals will be included in the investigation, noting that it is a question for the Chief Prosecutor.

"A total of 68 people have been included in the investigation so far. Unlike the modular hospital case, when people were burning alive, then the Laskarci case, the Besa Trans case, where 75 of our fellow citizens died. At the time, there were zero defendants. Whether there will be 68 or 168, I don't know, that is for the Prosecutor's Office to say, not me. I'm not the one to say it, the Minister of Interior is not the one to say it. The Prosecutor's Office, together with the court, say what measures and which people will be included in the investigation, and whether top government officials should be arrested and detained. At the end of the day, one member of the Government is detained. In your time, that was an impossible mission," Mickoski said, adding that the same prosecutors and judges elected by SDSM are working on the investigation.

"When talking about morality, ethics and conducting investigations, you have the least right to speak. We should leave the families and parents in peace, because their pain and grief is inconsolable," Mickoski said. 

Photo: print screen