The circle around Gruevski tightens

The ex-prime minister was told that due to political influence, his verdict in the “Tenk” case will be confirmed so that he ends up in jail as soon as possible

Before today’s continuation of the public hearing in the Court of Appeal regarding appeals for first instance verdicts in the SPP case “Tenk”, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski appeared at a press conference in the parliament yesterday, declaring that the court decision is already made.

Although he appealed against the decision of the Criminal Court, which sentenced him to two years in prison for purchasing the luxurious Mercedes for 600,000 euro, Gruevski announced that neither he nor his lawyers will appear at the today’s session in the Court of Appeal.

“No legal arguments are sufficient for a previously politically agreed verdict and a pre-determined political decision. If the judges are so scared and succumbed to a political order, they are given the opportunity, without me present, to bring any verdict they want. No unlawful imprisonment will ever erase from the memory of the citizens the works that I have done for this country and these people, for the defense of state interests”, Gruevski said.

For the first time in several months he appeared at a press conference – and this time as a member of Parliament, accusing the government of leading a political hunt against him, saying that the judges are professional, but they work under pressure.

“There will come a time when the people will regain power in their own hands and when such decisions will be re-examined. I am not tried by the court, but by politics. Everything will be endured and will pass, but it will not be forgotten. The judiciary is charging me because I was the leader of VMRO-DPMNE and because I am in someone’s way“, Gruevski said.

The former prime minister and leader of the VMRO-DPMNE said that he was informed that on August 30th, after postponing the session at the Court of Appeal, the acting president of the court appealed to the judges one by one with a direct request for the continuation of the session to reach a conviction. This, according to Gruevski, was in order for him to be imprisoned as soon as possible, and regarding the acting president of the court, he said that she was under political influence. He also said that, as he was informed, there are concerns that there was a proposal to reduce his sentence to less than a year in prison so that he could not appeal to the Supreme Court.

“If you allow the political directive to prevail, you will make me bigger, and you will remain smaller,” Gruevski told the judges.

“Tenk” is only one of the trials being conducted against the former prime minister, which emerged from the “bombs” of the former opposition. Yesterday, Gruevski was at the hearing on the Traektorija case, which refers to misconduct during the construction of the highways Kicevo-Ohrid and Miladinovci-Stip. In recent months, Gruevski has been on trial in the Criminal Court almost every working day, so he rarely appears on the political scene. This can also be seen from the latest report on the regularity of the Members of Parliament, where it was noticed that Gruevski only appeared four times in a parliamentary session in the first six months of the year.

He used yesterday’s press conference to retaliate for information published by Wikileaks – that he as Prime Minister accepted the name “Republic of Northern Macedonia” in 2008. According to Gruevski, these are nonsense and vain attempts of the government.

„These are vain attempts of the government, and there are likely to be many more. They are campaigning now and we will be listening to various nonsense. It’s clear why I’m in court and why this classic political persecution and torture is happening to me. If I agreed with the Greeks, they would sing a different tune, I am a man of principles and dignity“, Gruevski said. (A.M.M.)