Macedonia – Exit or Brexit


Erol Rizaov

I was seriously worried that Nikola Gruevski and Hristijan Mickoski have not made any public statements in the past few days. Something very significant must be happening when these two Macedonian figures stay quiet and leave their work to amateurs, models and various screamers in politics and ragged journalism. I could not believe that at the moment when they were most needed in their homeland, when bells were ringing on all sides and voices are screaming: “Catch the thief!”, the two great patriots went on vacation and left the battlefield. So instead of finding a way out, poor Macedonia would go to hell. Speaking in the style of the most current event in the world after the UK template, Macedonia if it goes in the minds of these two thoughtful national leaders and rescuers it can make Brexit, ie transit back into the EU still not possible. Britain and Macedonia, two great world empires, do not have a place in a tight and mixed Europe that does not know who the boss in the house is.
Just as the bubbles of this great soap opera started to burst, I could finally calm down when Mickoski decided make a public statement, and, quite refreshed, soothed his positions and said that only Justice Minister Renata Trenevska-Deskoska should resign immediately. I do not know why Mickoski needed to do this when, before taking leave of absence, he decisively demanded that all the government officials resign, everyone including Zaev, then dismiss the SPO, and let VMRO-DPMNE elect a public prosecutor that befits the dramatic situation in which the country found itself, and immediately the early elections to return to the democracy and justice we were used to and enjoyed by all in the age of Gruevism. It has become unbearable for VMRO-DPMNE not to be in power for two and a half years, and the party isn’t even the opposition.
I felt relieved that Mickoski came back home, but I’m still worried that Gruevski is missing. He has been silent for longer than the that one journalist, known only in Macedonia, and security expert from La Verita who witnesses disappeared, but there was a new bombshell in which Boki Tredici promised Orce Kamchev that he would meet Prime Minister Zaev tomorrow, which is irrefutable evidence of a Boki-type crown witness.
The great and famous journalist, who by his own admission knew nothing about Macedonia, but defends the extremely endangered democracy, strongly motivated in defense of justice and truth. By the way, there is a great need in all appearances to say a word or two about the fact that EU official Mogherini has brought Zaev to power in Macedonia in order to sign the Prespa Agreement with Greece and change the name of the country. So with the help of Mogherini, Brussels, Chancellor Merkel and Soros, of course, there can be no conspiracy made without America and ousted Nikola Gruevski. Those who know what this means and from which direction the wind blows, call this a reality show because, for the first time in the world, a whole country is taking part in the experiment of making fools out of two million people.
Only in such a situation when we are in great danger that we will all soon be drugged with cannabis because Prime Minister Zaev secretly met the world’s largest legal producer of marijuana oil and other poisonous cakes and food products whose compulsory consumption a day, plus two marendas, can cloud our minds in the middle of summer and poison us all to the point that we cannot see what is crystal clear because of hallucinations. And these are the strongest, almost five-years-long efforts to obstruct justice in Macedonia. And the latest seeming chance that the Special Prosecutor’s Office has made quite successful, bringing a number of cases and indictments of heavy crimes by senior officials has been called into question by partisan battles for supremacy in the judiciary. The “Racket” affair, instead of being left to the investigation and a fair judgment without a selection, is used to prevent the ideal opportunity for the judiciary to take over the judicial power and restore confidence in the shattered system.
It is quite understandable for the opposition to use the affair in a political showdown with the government. Any opposition in such a situation would do the same, but when that clash has an obvious black hole from which it stinks like a landfill, then the chaos, the lies and the show must go on. The black hole is the fact that the opposition has no credibility without morally condemning its criminals who are still in high positions in the party to demand a party public prosecutor and amnesty for all of their people who are being investigated and prosecuted. How can anyone believe that VMRO-DPMNE and Mickoski really demand a law-abiding state and the rule of law with such arguments of which the strongest ones are just screaming?
It would be interesting to honestly and professionally investigate why it is such a commitment to control the public prosecution, which is only one party of the judicial procedures, if the judicial system functions independently and impartially. Whether Macedonian prosecutors and prosecutor’s offices are so well prepared and have such strong evidence that they must file a lawsuit must be punishable, or is the impact on the complete judiciary still under the inertia of long years of politically ordered justice through public prosecutor’s offices.
An experienced retired judge assures me that prior to Macedonia’s independence, at the time of ‘single mindedness’, nearly 70 percent of the criminal charges still ended up in the pre-trial due to lack of relevant evidence. In the times of ‘no mindedness’, he says, one hundred percent of lawsuits against opposition political opponents end in detentions and punishments. Even countries with the highest level of rule of law do not have such a percentage of verdicts. I believe the judge, but still a professional investigation into the situation in the Macedonian judiciary may reveal the roots of lost public confidence that justice is possible in Macedonia. We really remember many cases of ordered, prison verdicts and acquittals, suspicious party amnesties and withdrawn amnesties, through courts and inquisitive lustration without the right to defense, and we remember spectacular arrests and humiliating scenes in front of TV cameras and microphones, but after these are just the consequences and the visible top of the iceberg. The “Titanic” sank because it hit the invisible part of the iceberg.
Macedonia’s justice system still has the ideal chance to take over the judicial power. The government is frightened of the public, which is a good thing, and the opposition is compromised for seeking selective justice by protecting its criminals, which is a bad thing. This is a really good opportunity to get the judiciary out of politics and do its job, with the help of a little more courage and determination. Party and compromised prosecutors and judges are well known in their profession and in the public. A thorough lustration is necessary for them. That is how things in the judiciary can fall into place.

Views expressed in this article are personal views of the author and do not represent the editorial policy of Nezavisen Vesnik