Jankuloska saved herself just like Buckovski?

One of the main assumptions was that the Supreme Court would save former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at the last minute before the main verdict, but the files of the “Tank” case did not reach the highest court on time, so Gruevski fled to Budapest where he was granted political asylum. After former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska was sentenced to four years in prison and was due to go to jail on July 1st, several days before the deadline, the Supreme Court accepted the request for postponement of the prison sentence. Serving the prison sentence has been delayed indefinitely, that is, until a decision is reached over the motions for reevaluation of the final judgment by the Supreme Court.
A specific reason why Jankuloska demanded for her prison sentence to be delayed has not been provided. The Supreme Court says that it is allowed by a general provision from the Criminal Procedure Code.
“There are a number of such cases in which the Judicial Council, in order not to be under a time constraint, decided to postpone the prison sentence due to reevaluation of the legally valid verdict. There is a possibility, if the verdict is confirmed, for this decision for delay to be revoked, while if the verdict is abolished then there would be no basis for serving the prison sentence,” the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court’s decision is taking us back to when, for the same reason, former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski’s prison sentence was delayed as well, who, even though was tried for years and was sentenced to multiple prison verdicts, is still walking free.
Supreme Court said that in 2016, the highest court ruled that it accepted the request for an extraordinary reevaluation of the legally valid verdict and abolished the two verdicts for Buckovski.
“The situation with the delay lasted several months in 2016, from the delay to serve the prison sentence until the decision of the Supreme Court,” the court said.
The trials were returned to the Criminal Court, but Buckovski’s final verdict was not yet effective.
No one can accurately predict when the Supreme Court would reach a decision concerning Jankuloska’s case, but the court said that it would inevitably be put on the agenda, once it was taken under consideration.
Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has also filed such request, but the Supreme Court has not yet decided on it. However, considering the fact that Gruevski fled the country, his prison sentence cannot be postponed, while the third convicted in this case, who is the only one serving prison, former Assistant Minister Gjoko Popovski has not filed a request for delaying his prison sentence. However, the Supreme Court has the opportunity to revoke, confirm, or reverse the “Tank” verdict.
The Supreme Court for months could not decide on Gruevski’s request because the case files were in the Appellate Court, where a decision for Jankuloska was underway, and for which there was a separate procedure due to Jankuloska’s pregnancy.
A few months after the court proceedings started against the former MoI minister, she became pregnant, and her prison sentence was initially postponed because she had a baby.
Former MoI Minister Jankuloska has been sentenced for abuse of office regarding the procurement procedure of a new vehicle ‘Mercedes’ worth more than EUR 600,000.

(FFS)