Xhaferi testifies at trial for attempted murder of MP Sela

“The men who stormed the Parliament and its press center were threatening us that they would kill all of us and that no one would make it”, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi said Tuesday while testifying in a Skopje court.

He was called to testify before the Criminal Court in Skopje as a witness in a trial involving the attack of MP Zijadin Sela on 27 April 2017 during the violent events in Parliament.

Xhaferi said that the brawl started around 7 p.m. after a group of citizens had stormed the press center in Parliament.

“They started attacking everyone. At first we were physically assaulted, and then they started throwing all kinds of equipment at us. There were MPs, members of the media in the press center. Zoran Zaev, Oliver Spasovski, Goran Misovski, Aleksandar Kiracovski, Damjan Mancevski, Vesel Memedi, Suria Rusiti and Zijadin Sela cordoned me off and I retreated backwards. There were others who protected me, including bodyguards of MP Oliver Spasovski,” Xhaferi said.

After noticing that Sela was not close to me, he continued, I heard one of the attackers saying ‘We are done with Sela, now it is your turn.’

In the midst of the violence raging in Parliament, Xhaferi was evacuated to a military barracks in Skopje. From there, he went to the hospital to visit MP Sela, where he was treated after sustaining life-threatening injuries by the attackers.