The Swiss Ambassador Sommer Visited Kochani and Civic Initiatives

More than ten parents and family members affected by the tragedy at the Kochani discotheque met the Swiss Ambassador in the country, H.E. Christoph Sommer. At the meeting with their association – “16th March 2025” CSO there were representatives of the Swiss Embassy and Civica Mobilitas team.

On the same day, 23rd February 2026, the Ambassador met Support Kocani, a current grantee of Civica Mobilitas.

The discussions were open and honest, focusing on the current situation, challenges and needs of the affected families and civic initiatives.

The parents presented their work so far, shared the challenges that they face, as well as their specific requests and the need for justice.

They also talked about the accident that took place at the New Year’s party at the bar in Crans-Montana in Switzerland and the connections between the two tragedies. The parents stressed that although they had not established direct contact with the families in Switzerland, the pain that they have creates a strong, humane connection with everybody who had been through similar loss.

They proposed establishing of contact via social network groups, and they also stated that they were prepared to visit the parents in Switzerland in the spring, in order to share their support and solidarity.

In the conversation, they also stressed their concern due to the lack of trust in the judicial system and the feeling of insufficient institutional support. The parents proposed that the embassies monitor the developments in the trial of Kochani events, as an additional guarantee of transparency.

With respect to the planned monument, they stressed that they needed financial support, from foundations or other organizations, but also previous consultation, their involvement and better coordination of the initiatives for support related to the tragedy.

Ambassador Sommer thanked them for their openness and honesty, as well as their readiness to show sympathy and support to the families of Crans-Montana. He stressed that the messages from the meeting will be given to the affected institutions and relevant stakeholders.

The meeting with “Support Kocani” was about the support to the injured at the fire. The representatives of the initiative presented their work from the very beginning – the way of organizing, collecting and distribution of funds and donations, as well as mechanisms for transparency and accountability. They spoke about the needs of the injured, their healing process, treatments and experiences that they shared. In their

offices, the representatives of this association provide free of charge psychological counselling, workshops and creative activities, in order to help the young people deal with the challenges faster and in an easier way.

They explained that the initiative had occurred spontaneously, out of the need for coordinated, structured and organised response in conditions of crisis, in order to have timely and efficient support to the affected citizens. Part of the activities, such as collection and processing of data in order to alleviate the transactions and donations, are done on voluntary basis and with full transparency.

At the same time, they spoke about the project supported by the Swiss Government via Civica Mobilitas, which is implemented in partnership with Young Can from Skopje. With the project “Connected in Crisis: Young People Building Resilience and Togetherness” will establish a national model for youth crisis management, based on partnership among youth centres, civil sector and relevant institutions.

The visit passed the message about the force and courage of affected families, but also about the importance of solidarity and togetherness. At moments of deep loss, it is the connections among people, organizations and communities is a foundation for support, solidarity and joint power.