Defense requires acquittals for Kesishev, Manev and Videvski for the killings of Vanja and Pance

Defendant Vlatko Kesishev, lawyer Igor Efremov, today in the Basic Criminal Court Skopje demanded an acquittal for his client over the killings of Vanja Gjorcevska and Pance Zezhovski, on the grounds that he not only did not participate, but he did not know. Optional wines, as he pointed out, can only bear for the kidnapping of Vanja.

– From the submitted and material evidence submitted on which the prosecution’s indictment is based, as well as the interrogation of all witnesses and defendants, nothing has confirmed the participation in the act of committing as a perpetrator or co -enforcement of the defendant Kesishev. This was further confirmed by defendant Vlatko Kesishev himself, as well as the interrogation of defendant Velibor Manev, as well as the statement given to the prosecution of defendant Bore Videvski, the lawyer said.

He added that the defendant cannot be charged, and even less convicted as a co -enforcement agent, because it is necessary for his accomplice to be necessary to commit the crime that is being charged, and such actions, according to the lawyer, do not exist.

-The consideration that the existence of a co -conspiracy referred to in Article 22 of the LCP requires awareness and deliberate with the accomplishment that he is performing the action of committing a crime and wants his enforcement, in the indictment, neither is the meaning of any

He emphasized Kesishev’s remorse for his presence in front of the Naum Naumovski Borce Street building where the now damaged Vanja Gjorcevska lived, and his participation in committing a crime of kidnapping.

-We seek from the court, in the decision of the defendant Kesishev, in particular to keep in mind the fact that if it were not the remorse and burden of the defendant’s conscience, the bodies of those killed, that is, his special contribution to the police officers, pointed out the place of bury. As he said, listening to Palevski’s orders, he took actions without thinking about possible consequences. The state of his conscience and remorse, as well as the fear he had fully described in his first reaction to the party’s headquarters where the police officer – witness Dejan Dimovski, told him, I quoted – where we have been waiting for you so far, Efremov said.

The defense claims that Kesishev was in a state of fear and susceptibility to Palevski, which confirmed by the fact that after hearing about the events in Veles, he asked to return to Stip, but was not allowed. This moment, according to defense, shows that Kesishev was actually hostage and victim of foreign decisions and interests.

He admits that he was present during the kidnapping of Vanja Gjorcevska on November 27, 2023, but says he did not know who the person was, because only Manev and Palevski had the information.

-As he pointed out himself, he had never been told by anyone, nor did he participate in any conversations that would take place for the possible killing of anyone. In his statement, he pointed out that he heard a sound that resembled a gun shooting, after which he was summoned to help bury a person after a few minutes. He first learned that he was a minor when he returned to the party’s headquarters, when he saw on social media, after which he asked the defendant Palevski if it was the person in the morning, which was strongly ordered to go to his room and not ask further questions, the lawyer explained.

The defense noted that the defendant Kesishev was all available to the investigation and contributed significantly to the case. He urged the court to rate the facts impartially and not to attribute guilt for acts that there is no evidence that he has done, neither as a perpetrator nor as a co -enforcement agent.

Earlier, the defenders of the defendants Velibor Manev and Bore Videvski also demanded the acquittal.

The trial continued with the final speech of lawyer Vladimir Tufegljic, defender of Aleksandar Gjorcevski.
After which only the final word of Ljupco Palevski’s defense remains.

At the past hearing, the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in his closing remarks requested a maximum sentence of life in prison for four defendants Ljupco Palevski, Vlatko Kesishev, Bore Videvski and Velibor Manev, while for Vanja’s father, defendant Aleksandar Gjorcevski asked the court to order him.

The indictment states that Palevski, Videvski, Manev, Kesishov and Gjorcevski together planned the abduction of 14-year-old Vanja in order to force a member of her immediate family to give money for ransom. The abduction of the damaged Pance Zezhovski in Veles, on the indictment, was intended to force him to give their « Citroen » vehicle to use it to abduct the child in Skopje.

The defendants said at the beginning of the trial that they did not feel guilty, and the first defendant Palevski claimed through the process that this was a politically mounted process.

Juvenile Vanja and Pance resident were reported missing on November 27 and 24, and on December 3, 2023, dead were found near Skopje and Veles.