Nine Months After a Unanimous Decision the Puls Inquiry Commission Still Does Not Exist, and Deko Is About to Leave Detention

Parliament voted unanimously to form an inquiry commission into the tragedy at the Puls nightclub in Kočani. That was nine months ago. The commission still has not been formed.

Not because of a dispute over competences. Not for want of votes - the decision was unanimous. But because from that day onward every side has had one explanation for why not them, but someone else, should take the step.

From the citizens' association "16 March 2025 - Kočani" the message to all MPs is short: "Publicly announce a concrete deadline for when the Commission will be formed and will begin work. Our children were not politicians. They were young people who went out to enjoy themselves and were supposed to come home."

Three excuses, not one solution

From the opposition SDSM, led by Venko Filipche, the position shifted several times. First the party announced it would nominate members immediately. Then the explanation became that it was waiting for a letter from parliamentary speaker Afrim Gashi. That position was repeated again today.

From VMRO-DPMNE the reason is different: there already is an inquiry commission on Kočani, the one chaired by Dimitar Apasiev, so two parallel commissions on the same case would be unnecessary.

From Levica and Apasiev, meanwhile, there is no concrete date for when that standing commission will actually convene. So far the party has explained it is trying to align its positions with VMRO-DPMNE, which has its own proposals for conclusions. At DUI and Vredi the subject is not among the priorities at all.

So: one side waits for a letter, another waits for the commission that already exists, a third waits for the second one's consent. Nine months of a circle in which everyone has an excuse and nobody has an obligation.

What exactly the commission was supposed to examine

The parents put the question precisely, and it is a question that does not require a court: who knew, who was inspecting, who had the authority and did not act, and how was it possible for institutions to fail for years to stop the lapses that are now the subject of investigations.

The association points out that an inquiry commission is not tasked with establishing criminal guilt - that is the court's job. Its role is to establish where the system failed and whether there was political responsibility. "The system is not an abstract notion. It is made up of institutions, and institutions are run by people with a first name, a surname, a post and a responsibility," the association says.

That commission's mandate is not only for Puls. It also covers the fire at the modular hospital in Tetovo, the bus crash near Laskarci and the bus crash in Bulgaria. Four cases in which people lost their lives, four cases in which political responsibility was supposed to be established, and one commission that has not met in nine months.

While the commission waits, everything else moves

This is the part that hurts most. In the same nine months in which parliament failed to assemble a commission, other proceedings advanced at a perfectly respectable pace - in one direction only.

The Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime closed the investigation into the procurement, tenders and materials for the modular hospitals. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict in the Laskarci case, after which those convicted walked out of prison. And the owner of Puls, Dejan Jovanov - Deko, is about to leave detention.

When justice flows faster toward the exit than toward an answer, waiting stops being a procedural question. The parents phrased it differently, but to the same effect: our children have no deadline, justice must not expire.