The organizer and direct perpetrator of the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Skopje and a 74-year-old man from Veles, Ljupcho Palevski-Palcho, has been arrested in Turkiye, North Macedonia's Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski told an emergency press conference.
On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry in North Macedonia issued an international warrant for Palevski, who, after the girl's murder, left for Belgrade in a car and a day later, in another car, transited through the territory of Bulgaria and entered Turkiye. The driver who transported Palevski through Bulgaria was arrested, the prosecutor's office said earlier, and Spasovski thanked his colleagues from Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkiye and Croatia for their cooperation.
Palevski was arrested in the Turkish town of Balikesir, and his trial has begun, Spasovski said. A 100-page case against the five accused in the two murders has been submitted to the prosecutor's office. It charges five people, including one for organizing and committing kidnapping and murder, three for abetting kidnapping and murder, and one for aiding kidnapping.
Police have recovered two guns, for which forensic tests are to confirm whether they were the weapons used to commit the murders, Spasovski said.
Later on Wednesday, North Macedonia's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovecevski in Brussels expressed gratitude to Turkiye, Serbia and Bulgaria for the swift arrest of the organizer and alleged perpetrator of the double murder, media in Skopje reported. The prime minister also thanked Croatia. "This was another successful example how we can expect successful results in every area only with close cooperation with partners," Kovacevski stressed.
/MT/
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