23 People Suspected of Fire in Kocan, New Arrests Expected

Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski at today's media conference said that today there will be new arrests of persons related to the event in Kocan, some of whom are MPB employees.

“11 people are in custody and we will not stop here as this issue stands. During today, we will not stop by procedural action, or ascertain that the system in Macedonia is corrupt to the point that we can say we have a catastrophic situation in terms of procedures. A large number of institutions which by law must monitor the operation of discotheque, especially in the area of defence in case of any possible fire, so today there will be a significant number of people who will be detained both by MPB and other institutions”, Toshkovski said.

RMV authorities also announced that autopsies have been made among the 15 people who have lost their lives at the discotheque in Kocan.

According to Minister Toshkovski's data, discotheque “Pulse” has operated illegally and there has been no legal documents for operation, no permission to use pyrotechnic means, and no agreement with contractors from the DNK.

Macedonia does not have a system of game rules that would prevent such a terrible event. We have systematic weaknesses that make control impossible. We have found that the system in Macedonia is corrupt to that extent that we can say there is a catastrophic state of institutional behaviour”, Toshkovski stressed.