Two months after the start of pre-trial proceedings, the trial of 13 police officers charged over the „Puls" nightclub fire in Kočani is finally getting underway. All 13 deny guilt. All 13 say - „We did everything we could."

That is the sentence the families of the 63 dead are hearing again. Today not in a police station, not over the phone, not in the media - in the main trial.

The prosecution lays out the specific failures. Prosecutor Spasenka Andova argues the action plan „was not officially approved" beforehand. There was no prior on-site work. The officers „did not provide adequate protection and evacuation" for the people inside.

According to the indictment, each of the accused „through their actions or omissions" contributed to the severe consequences. 63 dead. Around a hundred injured. Families still looking for a single word - „guilty".

The defence is going a different way. Lawyer Zoran Zafirovski argues the indictment is „vague and incomplete". He says his client did the tasks he had been assigned - checking IDs, monitoring the serving of alcohol to minors. Another defence lawyer claims the police were „only a few minutes" inside the venue - with no way of knowing pyrotechnics were on the premises.

Judge Fanka Jančuleva-Mihailovska has rejected motions for her recusal and for postponement of the main hearing. The case moves on. The main hearings begin.

The „16 March 2025" association - founded by parents of the children who died - is demanding clear accountability. Not just in principle. But - who. With names and surnames. With a specific failure. With a specific consequence.

Macedonia waited two months for the court to start with the 13 police officers. Now they are in the courtroom. But this is only one of three trials that must be held - for police, for firefighters, and for the concession holders. 14 months after the tragedy, the parents are not asking for revenge. They are asking for the truth. And that is the difference between a state where the judiciary functions - and one where justice is a political decision.