site.btaOpposition in North Macedonia Proposes Parliamentary Inquiry Committee into March 16 Tragedy in Kocani

The leaders of two opposition parties in North Macedonia said that they will submit an initiative to establish a parliamentary inquiry committee to conduct an independent investigation into the fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kocani on March 16, which claimed the lives of 63 people and injured more than 200.

The demand for an inquiry committee was raised during a protest held on Saturday in Skopje by the parents and relatives of those who died in the fire.

On Monday, after consultations within the SDSM parliamentary group and the party leadership, MP and SDSM leader Venko Filipce announced that the SDSM parliamentary group will submit a proposal for an oversight debate and the creation of an inquiry committee to ensure a full and independent investigation of the tragedy. He called on MPs from all parliamentary groups to support the proposal.

On Tuesday, MP and The Left leader Dimitar Apasiev said that as Chair of the Parliament’s Standing Inquiry Committee for Protection of Civil Freedoms and Rights, he will convene an extraordinary meeting next week to review the complaint submitted by the families of the victims in Kocani, delivered through the March 16 Association of parents from Kocani.

Responding to media questions, VMRO-DPMNE MP Bojan Stojanoski said that the parliamentary group of the ruling party will accept the requests made by SDSM and The Left, but insisted that the inquiry committee should have an expanded mandate to include other similar tragedies that have occurred in the country.