Criminal charges against the person Z.K. the president of the Mountaineering club “Transverzalec” due to the mountaineering accident with fatal consequences occurred on the peak of Kajmakchalan, Mt. Nidze, on the day 10th of February 2018 - case formed on 21st of February 2018 after a public announcement against a person for criminal offenses - Unscrupulous work in the service from Article 353 paragraph 4 in conjunction with paragraph 2 and paragraph 1, as well as Serious acts against the general security from Article 292 paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 288 paragraph 1 from the Criminal Code.
Criminal Code of North Macedonia
Article 353-c - Unscrupulous work in the service
(1) An official or responsible person in a public enterprise or a public institution that violates the legal regulations for conflict of interests or for conscientious action in the exercise of discretion authorization, by omission of due diligence or otherwise apparently acts recklessly in the exercise of its powers and duties and thus will obtain for himself or for another some benefit or on another will harm him, shall be punished by imprisonment of three months to three years.
(2) If the perpetrator of the crime from paragraph 1 acquires a larger property benefit or cause greater property damage or more severely injure them the rights of another, shall be punished by imprisonment of six months to five years.
(4) The responsible person shall be punished with the punishment from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, responsible person in a foreign legal entity having a representative office in Republic of Macedonia or a person performing activities of public interest, if the crime was committed in the exercise of his special authority or duty, determined by law.
Article 288 - Causing general danger
(1) A person who with a fire, flood, explosion, poison or poisonous gas, ionizing radiation, motor power, electricity or other energy or with another generally dangerous action or means will cause significant danger to human life or body or to large-scale property, shall be punished by imprisonment of six months to five years.
Article 292 - Serious acts against public safety
(2) If due to the crime from articles 288 paragraphs 1,2 and 3, 289 paragraph 1, 290 paragraphs 1 and 2 and 291 paragraph 1, the death of one or more persons, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment of at least three years
On February 10, 2018 on Mount Nidze, while climbing the peak of Kajmakchalan in the Republic of Greece, two Macedonian experienced mountaineers died. The prosecutor undertook a preliminary procedure in which he undertook a number of investigative actions - checks and services were present and written data through the Ministry of Interior, diplomatic trainings were obtained from the Hellenic Republic for two deceased planners, and as accompanying documentation relating to the event, and was prepared by the competent authorities of the Hellenic Republic. In addition, mobile operators provided mobile phone listings to the two deceased mountaineers and an expert report was prepared on the phone found by one of the mountaineers. Regarding the mobile phone of the other mountaineer, an additional notification was requested from the mobile operator for the location of that phone, but the answer was negative and that phone was not found.
Written evidence was also provided by the Federation of Mountaineering Sports and the Mountaineering Club "Transverzalec", and other written documentation was also provided. During the previous procedure, a representative from the Federation of Mountaineering Sports, a representative of the Mountaineering Club "Transverzalec", a representative of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, several witnesses - participants in the mountaineering tour, legal representatives of the deceased mountaineers were examined in the prosecution. as well as witnesses proposed by legal representatives. As a suspect, the president of the Mountaineering Club "Transverzalec" was interrogated, who was also one of the guides of the tour.
During the proceedings, the prosecution found that the two mountaineers had voluntarily distanced themselves from the group on the critical day, and while all the other participants in the tour had begun to return to the Voras ski resort, they had begun to climb to the church on the top of the mountain. Part of the group of mountaineers stayed to wait for them to return, so after they did not return, around 12 o'clock local Greek time, they went after them to look for them. They called them, looked for them on their mobile phones and on the radio link that was with one of the now deceased, but they did not manage to find them, nor to make contact with them.
Since they could not find them, the other mountaineers went down to the ski resort to check if the two mountaineers had returned there, but after ascertaining that they were not there, they immediately reported it to the person in charge at the ski resort. Immediately afterwards, measures were taken to find the two mountaineers at the ski resort, and the Special Disaster Management Unit from Thessaloniki, the Edessa and Aridea Fire Brigade, the ambulance services and the police were notified.
Around 13:30 local time, the action to find the two mountaineers with two vehicles and other equipment begins. The vehicles are driven by Greek rescuers, and on one wheel is the group guide, while on the other is another Macedonian mountaineer. Teams from the fire service and the special unit for disaster management also joined the action, around 15:30 local Greek time.
At the same time, the two mountaineers were constantly searched on their mobile phones and by radio connection, so when they received feedback that one of the mountaineers they were looking for had become available on their mobile phone, they continued to look for them on that phone. After some time, they established a relationship with a mountaineer who started explaining their whereabouts, but he could not explain exactly, so the other mountaineer called the same phone to explain their location. He was told to call 112 and turn on GPRS on his cell phone. They were located that way and the rescue teams started approaching them, but the terrain was inaccessible, and the weather conditions were bad and if the action continued, the lives of the rescuers would be endangered. According to the allegations in the written documentation submitted by the Republic of Greece, there was a danger of an avalanche on the ground, so in such conditions at 22:00 local time it was decided for security reasons to postpone the action to the next day in daylight. The next day the action continued, during which the bodies of the two mountaineers who died of frostbite were pulled out.
N/A
It was determined that he did not commit any violations of law or bylaws in the organization and implementation of the mountaineering tour and from a criminal law point of view it can not be determined that the death of the mountaineers is the result of any of its omissions. It was determined that no other person made a mistake causing a fatal outcome for both experienced mountaineers (she was a mountain guide - licence A), but they lost their lives on the critical day as a result of an accident.
The case is important because it concerns accident during an event organized by an alpine club. The case highlighs responsibilities of a mountain guide and the fact that he has to obey good practice of a mountain guide during the whole tour. The final decision of the prosecutor is that the guide did not breach any laws or bylaws. Because of the evidence, which was provided to the public prosecutor, and which contained also the standards of good practice for leading tours in winter conditions (President told them to go down.), we can say that the mountain guide was released also because he followed good practice.
