The basic court in Kočani, North Macedonia, today sentenced a man who killed a woman to life imprisonment.
As stated in the press release, the court in Kočani, “after admitting guilt, handed down a guilty verdict for one person for the criminal offense – ‘murder committed during gender-based violence and in a cruel manner’ and sentenced him to life imprisonment”.
Thus, for the first time in North Macedonia, the verdict for a brutal murder stated that it was committed during gender-based violence.
According to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kočani, “on September 25, 2023, the accused killed a woman in a brutal manner, stabbing her several times with a knife.”
In the indictment, the prosecution charged the accused with the criminal offense of “blackmailing the victim”, committed before the murder, but the accused did not confess to that criminal offence, the proceedings were separated and the court proceedings will continue for that part of the accusation.
Local media remind that a 60-year-old man from Kočan stabbed a 46-year-old woman more than 40 times in front of her house while she was getting ready to go to work, and that the murder was preceded by an argument.