Political Scandals and Judiciary Corruption in Macedonia

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  • Risto the Great
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2008
    • 15660

    Originally posted by Vangelovski View Post
    I think we need to hit the reset button on that country. Its unfixable, we need to start again.
    Correct.

    A country drowning in indifference.
    Risto the Great
    MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
    "Holding my breath for the revolution."

    Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

    Comment

    • DraganOfStip
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2011
      • 1253

      Today since noon people are again protesting in front of the Constitutional Court asking for resignation of the judges that voted for pardoning election fraud convicts:



      ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
      ― George Orwell

      Comment

      • Risto the Great
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2008
        • 15660

        Dragan, do you think the protesters extend beyond political affiliation?
        Risto the Great
        MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
        "Holding my breath for the revolution."

        Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

        Comment

        • DraganOfStip
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2011
          • 1253

          Originally posted by Risto the Great View Post
          Dragan, do you think the protesters extend beyond political affiliation?
          I can't tell,from the few images available I couldn't recognize any politician's face in the crowd.
          Just a handful of media is reporting on this so far,but I'm sure the propaganda machinery of DPMNE will attribute this to SDSM,Soros and "hostile elements that want to ruin our great society" any time now.
          They already started airing Grujo visiting municipalities,opening new foreign investments,signing contracts,holding babies etc as means of distraction.
          Last edited by DraganOfStip; 02-29-2016, 12:04 PM.
          ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
          ― George Orwell

          Comment

          • Vangelovski
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2008
            • 8533

            I doubt it crosses party lines. I was thinking about the partisanship (party allegiance not WWII guerrillas) in Macedonia and particularly DPMNE last night. It occurred to me that of all the DPMNE members I know, only a handful ever focus their thinking on Macedonia and its people - all I hear from most of them is 'partijata, partijata'...its scary when in politics the party becomes a substitute for country and nation.
            Last edited by Vangelovski; 02-29-2016, 07:39 PM.
            If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

            The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution. John Adams

            Comment

            • Soldier of Macedon
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2008
              • 13675

              Originally posted by Vangelovski View Post
              It occurred to me that of all the DPMNE members I know, only a handful ever focus their thinking on Macedonia and its people - all I hear from most of them is 'partijata, partijata'...its scary when in politics the party becomes a substitute for country and nation.
              To be fair, this sort of thing occurs in many countries, but it's unfortunate that Macedonia is counted among such countries.
              In the name of the blood and the sun, the dagger and the gun, Christ protect this soldier, a lion and a Macedonian.

              Comment

              • DraganOfStip
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2011
                • 1253

                Several hundred Macedonians protested in front of the constitutional court on Wednesday after the judges opened the way to pardoning former officials suspected of election fraud.

                NEWS 25 FEB 16
                Macedonia Court May Pardon Alleged Election Riggers

                Several hundred Macedonian anti-government protesters on Wednesday pelted the Constitutional Court building in Skopje with eggs after judges voted to discuss annulling a provision in the law that bars the President from granting pardons.

                They say it will open the way for the President to pardon a number of former senior government officials suspected of organising election fraud.

                The initiative was filed three weeks ago by a young lawyer who is not well known to the public.

                Although the Constitutional Court’s decision is not yet final, critics say the court is clearly working in the interests of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, whose officials were recently named as suspects for election rigging.

                Macedonia's Special Prosecution, tasked with investigating crime in high places, earlier this month launched investigations into several people, including two former ministers and a senior government official, suspected of organising election fraud during the 2013 elections.

                Former police minister Gordana Jankuloska, former transport minister Mile Janakieski and the government secretary general Kiril Bozinovski, all members of the government of VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, appeared before the court for questioning.

                The court refused a Prosecution request to detain them in another controversial decision.

                “This means that from now on anyone can rig elections and get away with it,” law professor and human rights activist Mirjana Najcevska complained. “The government is usurping the rule of law,” Najcevska added.

                The former head of the Constitutional Court, Trendafil Ivanovski, accused the court of “giving legitimacy to the same people who have undermined the state.”

                Macedonia’s Constitutional Court was seen in the past as one of the last remaining institutions resisting the political influence of Gruevski who became Prime Minister in 2006.

                During 2009 and 2010, the court scrapped several controversial conservative government provisions, including a program to boost child births in regions with a low birth rate, problematic points in the Lustration Law and a provision to introduce religious teaching in schools.

                Gruevski attacked the court at the time as a puppet of the opposition parties.

                However, after the Lustration Commission named the then head of the Court, Trandafil Ivanovski, as a former police informant, he was forced to resign. He later sued Macedonia in the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

                In 2012, the ruling party pushed through the election of three new judges, whom the opposition deemed close to the government.

                Since then, the court has tended to rule in favour of government projects, including the controversial lustration process, which some see as a means of taking retaliation against the government's political opponents.
                ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
                ― George Orwell

                Comment

                • Vangelovski
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2008
                  • 8533

                  Originally posted by Soldier of Macedon View Post
                  To be fair, this sort of thing occurs in many countries, but it's unfortunate that Macedonia is counted among such countries.
                  It is, however, balanced out by many SDS supporters who only long after the fabriki - you know the ones that employed tens of thousands but never actually produced anything. They made Yugoslavia an economic superpower but then collapsed overnight when exposed to the real market - maybe because they were too profitable. I understand that "they" closed the fabriki down in the end and left everyone "po ulicite". Not sure why though, given fabrikite were so profitable? But there are rumours that "parite bea ukradeni" by "they".
                  If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

                  The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution. John Adams

                  Comment

                  • DraganOfStip
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2011
                    • 1253

                    It is now official: the Constitutional Court confirmed their decision to grant the authority to the President of Macedonia to pardon convicts for a new array of crimes,including election fraud.
                    The judges remained deaf to the protests held throughout the period in front of the Court building (the largest one held just yesterday,this time polluted with the presence of SDSM) and upheld their previous decision.
                    Now Ivanov has full authority to pardon his fellow party members any time he pleases.
                    Macedonia - where everything is possible.

                    ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
                    ― George Orwell

                    Comment

                    • Risto the Great
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2008
                      • 15660

                      Kim Jong-un would be proud of Macedonia's leader.
                      Risto the Great
                      MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
                      "Holding my breath for the revolution."

                      Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

                      Comment

                      • DraganOfStip
                        Senior Member
                        • Aug 2011
                        • 1253

                        Macedonia's Constitutional Court ruled that the country's president can pardon alleged election-riggers, approving the controversial initiative that sparked rival protests overnight.


                        Macedonia Court Approves Pardons for Vote-Riggers

                        Macedonia's Constitutional Court ruled that the country's president can pardon alleged election-riggers, approving the controversial initiative that sparked rival protests overnight.
                        Sinisa Jakov Marusic
                        BIRN
                        Skopje


                        In a closed session on Wednesday, Macedonia’s Constitutional Court approved the annulling of a provision in the law which had previously barred the president from pardoning alleged election-riggers.
                        Critics of the proposed vote-rigging pardons held a protest march the previous evening in Skopje. But the marchers, backed by civic organisations and the opposition, were prevented from holding what they called a vigil “for the constitution” in front of the court overnight.
                        A heavy police presence kept them some 100 metres away from the court building, where a rival group of government supporters had set up tents, saying they were protesting "in defence of the judges".
                        When the judges arrived at work, they were welcomed by the government supporters who stayed there throughout the night.
                        Critics say that pardons would serve the interests of the main governing party, the VMRO DPMNE, whose officials were recently named as suspected election-riggers.
                        The civic movement Ajde!, which staged the march, said it will continue to protest.
                        Macedonian journalists meanwhile demanded an explanation from the court about why they were not allowed to attend the hearing.
                        The US embassy in Skopje also criticised the closed session.

                        “Why would the Constitutional Court close today’s session? Transparency is essential for any institution,” the embassy said on Twitter.
                        Opponents of the pardons who protested on Tuesday said they wanted wrongdoers to be punished.
                        "We represent the free and freedom-loving Macedonia. We want to see justice applied to everyone equally. The other rally is made up of party soldiers and scared administration workers who are told what to do, where to go and even what to eat," one protester told BIRN.

                        The government supporters said they were there to support the Constitutional Court and protect it from attacks by the opposition.

                        “I am Macedonian and I came here to defend Macedonia. It is not alright if someone threatens to set the Constitutional Court ablaze. We are here to defend the court and we will be here. Let those who want to come here and set it on fire. Let’s see whether they will succeed,” one of them told BIRN in front of the court building.

                        Macedonia's Special Prosecution, tasked with probing crime in high places, earlier this month launched investigations into several people, including two former ministers and a senior government official, suspected of organising election fraud during the 2013 polls.

                        Former police minister Gordana Jankuloska, former transport minister Mile Janakieski and government secretary general Kiril Bozinovski, all members of the government of VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, appeared before the court for questioning.

                        Skopje’s Criminal Court refused a prosecution request to detain them, in another controversial decision.

                        The Constitutional Court decisions have been implicitly criticised by the EU, which said any action that would suggest impunity for election-riggers would undermine the credibility of the early elections due to be held in Macedonia.

                        “Any suggestion of impunity in relation to election-related offences would counter-act the efforts invested by the country and the international community towards establishing the conditions for credible elections and trying to restore citizens' trust in the electoral processes,” EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said last Thursday.

                        The protest and counter-protest come against a backdrop of a deep political crisis that revolves around opposition claims that the government of recently resigned Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is responsible for a massive illegal wiretapping scheme and many other crimes.

                        Gruevski, who has held power since 2006 but resigned last month as part of an accord aimed at ending the crisis, says the wiretapping tapes released by the opposition were “fabricated” by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition in order to destabilize the country.
                        Last edited by DraganOfStip; 03-17-2016, 05:02 AM.
                        ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
                        ― George Orwell

                        Comment

                        • janesill
                          Junior Member
                          • Mar 2016
                          • 3

                          In many countries, law practitioners continuously search for loopholes in the constitution not to correct them, but to use them to get above the laws. They find their way out through the slightest cracks that the constitution have.

                          Comment

                          • iceman
                            Member
                            • Sep 2008
                            • 132

                            Sorros Puppet Zaev for Turkish Media admits: SPO (Swine) works for us

                            Sorros Puppet Zaev for Turkish Media admits: SPO (Swine) works for us

                            Wednesday, 20 April 2016

                            Zaev-Janeva-Verusevski
                            "With the presidential abolition many important cases were destroyed. We opened 35/36 cases that the opposition submitted to SPO" - stated Zaev in an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolia, in the discussion dedicated to the establishment of a special prosecution office, outside the legal framework and the pardon by Macedonia's president to all politiciants.

                            De facto Zaev admitted that the SDSM were preparing and submitting cases to Katica Janeva who then acted on them - this however was well known to the Macedonian public.

                            Without a shred of evidence, the SPO attempted to detain high ranking VMRO officials - in the process policemen tied to the SDSM was detained for threatening a witness to issue a false statement, judges were threatened to approve the detentions or 'bad' things would happen to their families.
                            However, despite the threats, virtually all of SPO's requests were denied in the Court system.

                            On the other hand, the SPO refused to prosecute Zaev and Zoran Verushevski even though its office had truck loads of evidence against them, including one secret service officer who admitted guilt of working for a foreign government and received a three year jail sentence. Ivanov pardoned him as well after spending nearly 7 months in prison.

                            Comment

                            • DraganOfStip
                              Senior Member
                              • Aug 2011
                              • 1253

                              UBK behind wiretapping,Special Prosecution's investigation shows

                              So much for the infamous yellow vans of the foreign secret services that had cut and pieced together the fabricated wiretapped conversations in order to harm the great DPMNE patriots.
                              What now,Grujo?
                              Time to set your propaganda machinery into fifth gear again,buddy.

                              The Special Prosecution on Friday said at least 10 current or former senior secret police officials ran the mass illegal wiretapping operation that is the focus of the country’s political crisis.

                              The Special Prosecution on Friday said at least 10 current or former senior secret police officials ran the mass illegal wiretapping operation that is the focus of the country’s political crisis.

                              Macedonia’s Special Prosecution, SJO, said it suspected ten persons from the Security and Counterintelligence Directorate, UBK, illegally surveyed at least 5,827 telephone numbers from 2008 to 2015 - as part of a fresh investigation codenamed “Target,” launched on Friday.
                              The ten suspects, all former or current employees of the secret police, face charges of misuse of office and breaching people’s basic civil rights.
                              “There is a reasonable suspicion that the suspects, using their offices and powers, at the expense of state funds, through misuse of the communication surveillance equipment, seriously breached the basic human rights of the unlawfully wiretapped citizens,” Deputy Special Prosecutor Fatime Fetai told a press conference in Skopje.
                              Although no names were given, the agency was led at the time by Saso Mijalkov, the cousin of Nikola Gruevski, former Prime Minister and head of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party.
                              At least 5,827 telephone numbers were unlawfully wiretapped from 2008 to 2015 the SJO said.
                              The SJO said that, from the evidence gathered so far, at least 4,286 telephone numbers were wiretapped by the suspects without obtaining a court order as the law stipulates.
                              An additional 1,541 telephone numbers were tapped on court orders for a certain period - but the SJO said they had also been illegally followed before and after the court orders were issued and expired.
                              The SJO noted that these are only the telephone numbers for which they have obtained evidence that they were illegally followed, not excluding the possibility that more will come to light.
                              The fresh investigation attempts to provide some answers to one of the most pressing questions at the heart of the Macedonia’s prolonged political crisis: who was responsible for the mass illegal wiretapping operation that has shaken the country.
                              It also comes less than a month before the December 11 early general elections.

                              Three surveillance systems were in use:
                              Fetai explained that the SJO investigation had shown that three different surveillance systems were used for the illegal wiretapping operation.
                              “Depending on which communication surveillance system was in use, there is a reasonable suspicion that different [criminal] actions were taken,” Fetai said.
                              Fetai said the evidence suggested that in 2008 three of the suspects, all then top officials in the secret police, were involved in unlawful issuing orders to put telephone numbers under surveillance without obtaining court orders.
                              In some cases, she said, they carried out these actions directly and listened to the telephone conversations.
                              She said the first system was in use during 2008, when at least 250 telephone numbers were illegally tapped.
                              The second system, operational between the end of 2008 and January 20, 2015, was used for illegal wiretapping of at least 4,910 telephone numbers.
                              The timing of the abolition of this system coincided with the opposition revelations about the wiretapping in early 2015.
                              However, illegal surveillance, according to the SJO, continued in use after the revelation of the scandal, from January 21, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
                              During this period, a third system was used to illegally wiretap at least 653 telephone numbers.
                              “The first suspect who was in a managerial position in the secret police, although having no legal right to do so, resorted to listening to telephone conversations for which there were no special surveillance measures issued,” Fetai said.
                              “At the same time, he gave orders for inclusion within the communication surveillance system of telephone numbers belonging to persons who were in close private relations with him [and] to persons who were part of the political and business elite [as well as] of the journalistic profession,” Fetai added, referring back to the evidence.
                              The SJO said that the second suspect, who was a department head in the secret police, helped organize the entire scheme but in many cases singlehandedly ordered illegal acts of surveillance.
                              Fetai said the evidence obtained from the personal computer of the second suspect, which had been seized, suggested that he “continued coordinating and organizing the illegal surveillance” in 2015 and used his computer to enter telephone numbers in the surveillance system and listen to illegally taped conversations, which was also unlawful.
                              The third suspect, also a top-ranking official, helped establish and maintain the illegal scheme, mostly by conveying the gathered surveillance materials to the first and the second suspects who were his bosses.
                              Fetai said the evidence suggested that the other employees were mainly involved in the technical aspect of the scheme and in the transcription of the gathered audio materials that were later sent to their superiors.
                              She explained that the illegal actions were noted by one secret police employee who acquired part of the transcripts and audio materials and, with the help of two other persons, conveyed them to the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, Zoran Zaev. He later revealed the evidence of wiretapping.
                              At the end of 2015, after revealing some of the material in public, Zaev handed the materials to the newly formed SJO.
                              Fetai said that the third communications surveillance system was still in use and, according to their evidence, “the process of misuse of communication surveillance systems continued during 2016”.

                              Entire political establishment was listened in to:
                              Ever since the revelations began in early 2015, Gruevski, despite being accused of masterminding the illegal surveillance, has insisted that unnamed foreign services were responsible for the wiretapping, and that they later gave the audio materials to the opposition to destabilize his country.
                              Referring to this claim, Deputy Special Prosecutor Lence Risteska told the press conference on Friday: “We do not have evidence that foreign services carried out the wiretapping."
                              "From the data we have collected thus far, we have no evidence that Gruevski's telephone number was wiretapped [either],” Risteska added.
                              However, she said that many of his then ministers, including former Transport Minister Mile Janakieski and former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, were illegally recorded.

                              Jankuloska, for example, was illegally wiretapped over at least 732 days, while Janakieski's first number was wiretapped over 732 days, his second number was tapped over at least 553 days and his third number was tapped over at least 816 days.

                              The former Vice Prime Minister, Musa Xhaferi, was illegally tapped over at least 1,658 days, Risteska revealed.

                              Former Health Minister Imer Selmani was tapped for at least 920 days.

                              Ali Ahmeti, head of the ethnic Albanian junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, was tapped for at least 338 days on his first number and for at least 867 days on his second number.

                              The leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, Menduh Thaci, was tapped for at least 1,257 days on both of his telephone numbers.

                              The head of the right-wing opposition United for Macedonia party, Ljube Boskoski, was tapped for at least 320 days on his first number and at least 92 days on his second number.

                              Zaev’s telephone numbers had been illegally wiretapped for at least 1,150 days, before and after a court order was issued for his surveillance. His other telephone number was illegally wiretapped for at least 400 days.

                              The SJO on Friday singled out three journalists, including BIRN’s Meri Jordanovska, among those who were unlawfully tapped for more than a year.

                              The SJO said that it had gathered a significant amount of verbal and material evidence to back up the case.
                              However, the SJO said the destruction of the two earlier communication surveillance systems that followed the eruption in public of the wiretapping affair had slowed their investigation and the process of gathering evidence.
                              The SJO earlier this year opened a separate case codenamed “Fortress” to investigate the destruction of this equipment by the secret police and Interior Ministry officials.
                              Fetai said the SJO had also launched a pre-investigation procedure into an alleged attempt to destroy evidence on police servers during their search of the special police HQ in October, which high-ranking police officials obstructed.
                              Last edited by DraganOfStip; 11-20-2016, 06:58 PM.
                              ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
                              ― George Orwell

                              Comment

                              • DraganOfStip
                                Senior Member
                                • Aug 2011
                                • 1253

                                Update:
                                The court denied the Special Prosecution's request for a court order to be able to obtain the info from one telephone operator that refused to give access to the Special Prosecution during the initial investigation.
                                Back then, it was discovered that around 5800 phone numbers were illegally tapped using info from one of two phone operators in Macedonia.
                                The other operator refused to provide the info without a court order because "the data requested was private and confidential".
                                The request was denied about a week after this, and the Special Prosecution appealed the decision.
                                Yesterday their appeal was also denied and therefore now any phone numbers that were tapped and belonged to the other operator are unable to be investigated .

                                Another in the string of obstructions to the Special prosecution in their investigations against high government officials.

                                Coincidence?

                                ”A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices”
                                ― George Orwell

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