“Puls” club owner in 30-day detention: the Skopje Court accepts the Prosecution’s request

The pre-trial judge at the Skopje Basic Criminal Court today accepted the proposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for organised crime and corruption to impose detention on Dejan Jovanov-Deko, the owner of the “Puls” club in Kocani, as the TV21 television station reported. Yesterday (1 October), the prosecution had requested his detention as part of the new investigation into the “Puls” tragedy; today’s decision is the approval of that request.

According to the court’s notice, cited by 4NEWS, the suspect D.J. from Kocani was ordered into detention for 30 days, after the suspect’s statement in the presence of his defence lawyer and after assessing the facts and evidence attached to the proposal. The detention was ordered because of the existence of the grounds provided in Article 165, paragraph 1, points 1 and 2 of the Law on Criminal Procedure — namely the risk that the suspect might flee and the substantiated fear that he could obstruct the investigation by influencing witnesses, as the court explains in its reasoning, according to 4NEWS reporting.

The detention measure begins to be implemented from 3 October 2026, given that the person was currently serving detention in the case of the fire at the “Puls” discotheque. In the new investigation, D.J. is suspected of committing the criminal offence of “Giving a bribe” under Article 358, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. He will be transferred from Kumanovo prison to Skopje prison to serve the new measure, as 4NEWS reports.

Moreover, as 4NEWS reports, D.J.’s defence today withdrew its proposal to replace the previous detention in the “Puls” case with a guarantee of around €200,000 in real estate — a detention which, under the legal provisions, expired tomorrow. Against the pre-trial judge’s decision, the defence has the right to appeal, on which the Criminal Council decides.