Trial for Vanja and Pance murder continues on April 4

The trial of the murder of Vanja and Pance continues on Friday after defendant Vlatko Kesishev testified today at the Skopje Basic Criminal Court.

Kesishev said today that Pance and Vanja saw them for the first time after Facebook posts about their disappearance. He testified about their abductions, with his answers to them mainly having a guard.

Answering questions from the public prosecutor who focused on communications with the defendants, motives and awareness of the defendant about the seriousness of the situation, Kesishev admitted that he was influenced by Ljupco Palevski, but claims he was not fully aware of his actions.
After the prosecution ended with the questions, the trial continued to read Kesishev’s statement by Judge Ivica Stefanovski, with the aim of defendant Ljupco Palevski, who was previously removed from the trial for suspicion of influencing Kesishev’s statement.

In the end, the court postponed the April 4 hearing in order for Palevski to have the opportunity to get acquainted with the content and prepare questions for Kesishev.

According to the announcement, after Kesishev’s hearing, Vanja’s father, Aleksandar Gjorcevski and Ljupco Palevski, should testify.

The indictment states that Ljupco Palevski, Bore Videvski, Velibor Manev, Vlatko Kesishov and Aleksandar 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 own « Citroen » vehicle to use the child to abduct the child in Skopje.

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