The decision on Dimovski’s immunity postponed

Lawmaker Ljupco Dimovski appeared before the Criminal Court yesterday, but the court rescheduled the interrogation because his fellow MPs have not yet voted and decided not to deprive him of his MP immunity for the second time. Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi is on his way to Ljubljana, and according to information from the legislature, after visiting Slovenia, he then leaves for Montenegro.

The first next plenary session is scheduled for February 18, but neither in this continuation will be voted on Dimovski’s immunity. Although the Assembly has an obligation within three days of requesting the Criminal Court to decide whether it will deprive Dimovski of his immunity or not, which protects him from criminal prosecution, there is still no decision. The session began on February 4, but after the address by the chairman of the Committee on business-immunity issues Pavle Bogoevski, who denied the opposition’s claims that the Assembly carried out political persecution, Xhaferi interrupted the session and said he would schedule it later.

The Committee on Mandatory Immunity Issues accepted the court’s request and recommended that the Parliament should withdraw its immunity, and at least 61 MPs should vote for it.

According to the interpretations of the legislature, in spite of the deadline, the Parliament Speaker takes care of the activities in the Parliament and he will have the last say when the session on Dimovski’s immunity will be continued. Former Agriculture Minister and current MP, along with former ministers in the same sector, Mihail Cvetkov, Aleksandar Spasenoski and Hristijan Delev, are suspected that in the period of their deposition in the 10-year rule of VMRO-DPMNE they tolerated non-payment of lease of state-owned agricultural land, with which damaged the country by EUR 1.5 million. The two former ministers, Cvetkov and Delev, are in detention, and Spasenoski has been given house arrest due to his poor health. At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Corruption, all suspects’ property and bills have been frozen.

The Parliament should decide on Dimovski’s MP immunity for the second time, after he, along with several other MPs, were indicted and detained for the incident that took place in Parliament on April 27. Before the vote on the constitutional changes, some MPs were released from detention and supported the Prespa Agreement in the Parliament. Dimovski was then in house arrest and did not vote on constitutional changes, and the opposition interpreted new accusations as a revenge of power. However, with the selective Amnesty Law, all accused MPs were pardoned. Lawmakers Krsto Mukoski and Saso Vasilevski were accused of opening the parliamentary doors and letting the violent crowd inside. This day will be remembered as the bloody Thursday in the collective memory, which ended with injured MPs and journalists.
(FFS)