The appeals of the five men convicted in the “Monster” case have been dismissed as being groundless and the first-instance verdict has been altered only regarding the calculation of the detention ordered for the defendants, Portalb.mk informs.

“The verdict has been announced, the complaints of the defendants were rejected and the verdict of the first instance sentence was confirmed”, the Court of Appeal told Portalb.mk.

According to the verdict of the first instance, pronounced on February 23, 2021, for the “Monster” case, namely the  murder of five people in Smilkovo Lake, as proposed by the Prosecution, a total of 5 people were found guilty. Alil Demiri and Afrim Ismaillovic (fled to Kosovo) together with Agim Ismaillovic, were sentenced to life in prison for the act of terrorism”, Fejzi Aziri was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “helping”, while Haki Aziri was sentenced to 9 years in prison, also for helping. The defendant Sami Luta was declared innocent, after the Prosecutor’s Office withdrew the charge due to lack of evidence. The defense contested the decision.

On February 26, 2021, protests were held in Skopje under the organization of the family members of the convicted. The protest started in Cair municipality and the destination was the Government, but the Police placed some police cordons in Mavrovka to stop the protesters and reaction from some of the protesters who threw stones and objects at the police forces. Eleven policemen were injured in the clash and the MIA team of journalists was attacked.