North Macedonia probes first suspected serial femicide case

North Macedonia prosecutors said Thursday they are preparing to charge a man over the murder of four women, in what is believed to be the Balkan nation’s first serial femicide case.

According to the authorities, the suspect is suspected of killing four women and attempting to kill two others.

Case described as gender-based violence

Public prosecutor Ljubomir Lappe said the crimes, acts of “gender-based violence”, were the first case of serial femicide in the country that he was aware of.

The 25-year-old suspect was arrested in February under suspicion of killing two women in a remote area of the country’s northeast, but investigations soon linked him to two other deaths.

According to local media, the victims were older women and were either strangled or smothered to death in their homes — but prosecutors have confirmed no details.

All six crimes occurred over 12 months to January 2026.

Authorities said the additional murders were uncovered following an exhumation of the two women’s bodies, which revealed their deaths had been wrongfully ruled as due to natural causes.

“It was determined that the individuals died of violence. Based on other information and evidence, it was determined that he killed the two women,” the Department of Internal Affairs in the city of Kumanovo said in a statement.

Femicide recent criminal charge

Femicide became a specific criminal charge in North Macedonia in 2023, joining a small but increasing number of countries officially recognising the crime.

Police have also filed negligence charges against the coroners who initially ruled the deaths of the two victims as natural.