Court orders detention, including house arrest, of six MPs


A Skopje court ordered MPs Krsto Mukoski, Saso Vasilevski and Ljuben Arnaudov to be put in 30-day detention, while Johan Tarculovski, Zaklina Pesevska and Ljupco Dimovski to be put in house arrest.

Arnaudov, Mukoski and Vasilevski on Tuesday afternoon were transferred from the Criminal Court in Skopje with a police escorting them to a police van. Pesevska was transferred from the court in a separate van without police escort.

The six VMRO-DPMNE MPs were questioned on Tuesday by a pre-trial judge over the violent storming in Parliament on April 27.

The hearing took several hours since Tuesday morning. They arrived in court separately.

Only MP Mukoski spoke briefly to members of the media saying that ‘legally speaking’ there were no arguments allowing for detentions to be ordered. “However, I leave it to the Criminal Court to decide as I have trust in it,” he stated.

The six MPs outside the court were greeted by other VMRO-DPMNE deputies as a sign of support.

36 people, including the six MPs, are suspected of ‘terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security’ in connection to the April 27 incidents in Parliament.

On Friday, Parliament stripped the six MPs of their immunity. The Parliament notified the Criminal Court on Monday after which the request was submitted to the competent judges for preliminary procedure.