SPO to appeal Court’s decision to acquit journalist Dragan Pavlovic-Latas


Special Prosecutor Elizabeta Josifovska from the Special Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday that SPO would appeal the decision of the Court to acquit journalist Dragan Pavlovikj-Latas and his brothers Srgjan and Zvezdan, who were indicted of illegal building in the ‘Trevnik’ case.

“We’ll appeal against the decision. There’s no quandary here, I’m of the opinion that the indictment was sustained, backed with enough evidence,” Josifovska noted, adding that a written appeal could also provide additional reasons for the Court’s decision.

She pointed out an appeal was a legal mechanism to be used in such situations.

Answering a reporter’s question about the judge’s finding that the offence was not a crime, the prosecutor said they would address that in a written appeal.

“At the moment, I can say that there was no legalization procedure in the case, which was also found by the Court itself. This is a procedure that should have been carried out differently according to legal regulations,” Josifovska noted. “I think the Court also found that at a given point, the houses were built without a building permit. The fact that competent institutions haven’t responded is not a basis for the defendants to be exempt from criminal responsibility.”