April 27 trial: 18 years in prison for Cavkov, Durlovski acquitted


16 men accused for their involvement in the 2017 Parliament storming were sentenced Friday to a total of 211 years in prison. Opera singer Igor Durlovski, one of the men standing trial, was acquitted.

The Criminal Court handed down the longest prison sentence – 18 years – to former interior minister Mitko Cavkov.

Mitko Peshov got 15 years, Dushko Lazarov 15 years, Goran Gjoshevski-Levi – 15 years, Oliver Popovski – 13 years, Oliver Radulov – 10 years, Munir Pepic – 15 years, Abdulfeta Alimi – 7 years, Mladen Dodevski – 12 years, Jane Chento – 15 years, Goranche Angelovski – 12 years, Igor Jug – 12 years, Vlatko Trajkovski – 15 years, Vilijam Mihajlovski – 14 years, Nikola Mitrovski – Koljo – 15 years, and Aleksandar Vasilevski – Nindza – 8 years.

The prosecutors proposed that the convicts Mitko Chavkov, Jane Chento, Igor Jug, Mladen Dodevski and Vlatko Trajkovski should remain in detention. The other men will be put in jail until the verdict enters into force.

The men are convicted on charges of terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security.

Launched in August 2018, the Parliament storming trial is one of the largest in the history of the country.

33 people, indicted for storming the Parliament and attacking MPs of the now-riling party SDSM, stood trial. 15 men were pardoned under a new amnesty law, adopted earlier this year.

The Public Prosecution also indicted five people for organizing the April 27 parliament storming, namely ex-PM Nikola Gruevski, former speaker Trajko Veljanoski, ex-ministers Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristovski, and former secret police official Nikola Boshkovski.