During the trial in the gruesome murder of young Vanja Gjorcevska and Pance Zezovski, the court today heard from Vanja’s mother, Zorica Gjorcevska.

The mother was asked about the conduct of her ex husband Aleksandar, who is a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of his daughter. She testified that she had a sum of money left over from the sale of an apartment – about 30,000 EUR – that could have been the motive for the murder. Zorica testified that Aleksandar was informed about the movement of the daughter – when was she due to go to school and that she would go there alone.

After she went missing, Aleksandar said that she’s likely kidnapped. He kept repeating this in the coming days. At one point I exploded, asked them why is he saying that, since nobody is asking for ransom, the mother testified.

Aleksandar is suspected of tipping off the group of kidnappers, led by well known businessman and radical publicist Ljupco Palevski. Palevski is the developer of the building where the family lived, and the court is investigating his relationship with Zorica’s father as well.

The 14 year old girl was kidnapped by people working for Palevski and driven outside of Skopje, where she was killed and buried. No ransom request was made. The group was arrested days after the gruesome killing, all but Palevski who fled to Serbia, then to Turkey, and was eventually extradited for trial.