All defendants plead not guilty in the April 27 case

The 33 people accused for participating in the violent storming of Parliament in April 2017 at a hearing on Monday pleaded not guilty after saying they understood the charges against them.

Of those, 31 are charged with ‘terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order’ and two are tried on ‘complicity’ charges.

The trial continues on August 31 with testimonies of witnesses proposed by the prosecution. These include Minister Damjan Mancevski, and MPs Frosina Remenski, Pavle Bogoevski and Ilija Nikolovski.

The trial of 33 people, including lawmakers, former office holders, public figures, policemen, is one of the most complex cases in Macedonia’s history. It started last week. The chief judge has scheduled a total of 37 sessions.

In its opening statements last week, the prosecution said there was evidence that would back up the indictment for ‘terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order’. The defense argued there was no such evidence.