Father of murdered teen acquitted due to lack of evidence linking him to the kidnappers
A court in North Macedonia has sentenced four men to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Vanja Gjorgjievska and 74-year-old Pance Zhezovski, in a case that shocked the country and triggered a national debate over child protection and organized crime.
The Criminal Court in Skopje found Ljupcho Palevski, Velibor Manev, Bore Videvski, and Vlatko Keshishev guilty of abduction and murder, handing down the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The men were also sentenced to 10 years each for kidnapping.
In the same ruling, the court acquitted Vanja’s father, Aleksandar Gjorgjievski, of allegations that he had provided information to the kidnappers about his daughter’s movements. The court cited a lack of evidence to prove his involvement beyond reasonable doubt. Gjorgjievski had been under house arrest but is now set to be released.
Prosecutor Ana Stojkovska-Dimitrievska announced plans to appeal the acquittal, arguing that only Vanja’s parents knew she would be walking to school alone that day. “Had the kidnappers not known she was unaccompanied, the abduction wouldn’t have happened,” she said.
The defense attorney for Gjorgjievski, Vladimir Tufegdzic, welcomed the court’s decision but criticized the investigation. “The verdict is legally correct, but substantively it leaves us without answers. Why was this child kidnapped and murdered? Why was there such insistence on implicating Aleksandar despite no evidence?” Tufegdzic told reporters.
According to the indictment, the group targeted Vanja in an attempt to extort ransom from a close family member. They had previously kidnapped Zhezovski in the city of Veles to steal his Citroën car, which they used in the abduction of the girl in Skopje.
Both victims were reported missing in late November 2023. Their bodies were discovered days later—Zhezovski near Veles and Gjorgjievska near Skopje—prompting widespread outrage and calls for justice.
The convicted men will remain in custody until the verdict becomes final.
North Macedonia, a small Balkan country of 1.8 million people, has been grappling with concerns about rising violent crime and the effectiveness of its justice system. The double murder case involving a teenage girl and an elderly man drew intense media coverage, and public demonstrations demanding swifter responses from law enforcement.