Life Sentences Urged in Macedonia Mass Murder Trial

Prosecutor Gordana Geskovska told the Skopje court in her closing arguments on Friday that the murder of five ethnic Macedonians by a group of alleged Albanian extremists during Orthodox Easter in 2012 was an act of terror carried out in order to provoke ethnic strife.

Neskoska claimed that message delivered by the killers was: “We shoot on Maundy Thursday so that you will have a bloody Easter. We shoot at young males in order to destroy your faith and nation and the future of the country.”

She said that there was abundant evidence proving the defendants’ guilt, including traces of their car near the scene of the murder, transcripts from their cell phone conversations, testimony from protected witnesses and files on their computers that had references to radical Islam.

Agim Ismailovic, Fejzi Aziri, Rami Sejdi, Haki Aziri and Sami Ljuta are on trial for alleged terrorism in Skopje. Two other suspects in the case, Alil Demiri and Afrim Ismailovic, remain at large.

According to the charges, Alil Demiri and Afrim and Agim Ismailovic committed the murders with automatic rifles, while the others provided logistical support.

“The defendants deny the murder but none of them sent condolences for it. It is too late for that now,” Geskovska said.

The corpses of Filip Slavkovski, Aleksandar Nakjevski, Cvetanco Acevski and Kire Trickovski, all aged between 18 and 20, were discovered on April 12, 2012. Their bodies had been lined up and appeared to have been executed.

The body of 45-year-old Borce Stevkovski was found a short distance away from the others.

News of the murder raised ethnic tensions, after groups of ethnic Macedonians staged protests, some of which turned violent, blaming the...