Courts hand down special indictments against former senior officials

The proceedings against dozens of former top state officials have not only moved from zero points, but nearly a month from the establishment of criminal indictments -- none of the approximately 100 people have been declared detention measures.

The Appeals Court on Sunday is expected to launch debate over the complaints of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, former ministers Gordana Jankulovska and Mile Janakievski, as well as some other former officials, all charged with election fraud. They have complained about the court's decision to obtain travel documents, while the Special Prosecutor had demanded the detention measure.

The criminal court has acted directly in the assessment that there is grounds for the escape of the accused, but in the decision to seizure the passports, it is wrong, since defendants can issue decisions only with IDs, and there is also the possibility that they will influence witnesses in various forms of pressure, so it remained in demand to pronounce the measure of detention”, said the Special Prosecutor's response.

Procedures, courts reason with the right to appeal the accused, but former Supreme Court Chairman Dane Iliev says the courts have violated procedures, stressing that the detention measure could be appointed for persons in question, even without completing all proceedings on Special Decisions or First Court rulings.

“Anxiety cannot postpone the detention measure. Such an interpretation imposed on the opinion does not stand. There is no logic that no detention measures be pronounced due to the influence of the judges or that such a move be postponed pending a decision regarding the complaint. The procedure is clear, the detention measure must be implemented immediately and it may change if the complaint is later accepted by the judicial body”, Iliev says.

All cases that the Special has filed are being prosecuted by the judges who have been part of what is known as wiretaps, or who have been heard talking to senior government officials in the plot of various judicial processes, but also dealing with employment or the career establishment of frameworks in judicial institutions.

Taking this fact into account, experts say such decisions are also expected by judges or procrastination of judicial procedures, including the appointment of measures of care for accused persons.

I think that here the background of all of this should be political, and this of course will have grave consequences, primarily the legality of the entire penal-juridical judicial process. Therefore, since the Judiciary should not decide on the basis of political criteria but implement the law, of course there should be objective, legal, constitutional approaches to breaking these court processes”, Osman Kadriu, professor of constitutional law, told Radio.

Some of the experts say that despite no detention measures, the very fact that other measures have been taken, even easier, are signal that they pose danger and that there will be court processes against them.

“In the concrete case against persons in question, criminal indictments have been filed and other measures have been imposed on them, as is the seizure of travel documents. But I also appreciate that this measure makes sense to him that it does not diminish the value of criminal prosecution, that is. Those in question are again suspected of criminal acts and that further procedures will take action to reach court epilogue”, says Jova Trpenovski, former public prosecutor.

He adds that the release of such persons from all security measures would be precedentd, but even in the concrete case of easing the measures proves once again that courts continue to work according to political beliefs or pressures they can take in various forms.

In parallel with the prosecution's special indictees for serious criminal acts, such as electoral fraud, tender-making, multiple financial abuses, media pressures, some mysterious deaths and other works, investigation is under way even in the violent events in the Assembly on April 27th.

But even in this case, procedures are flowing with slow dynamics because of complex judicial obstacles and procedures.