After today’s sentencing in the April 27th trial, the defense team pointed to the fact that the entire case was based on the testimony of one compromised witness, who reached a plea deal with the prosecution.
Aleksandar Vasilevski – Ninja testified that he was present at the main DPNE office on the day of the incident in the Parliament in 2017, and claimed that party officials were preparing to have protesters enter the building later in the day. Yet, a forensics investigation of Vasilevski’s phones showed that he only briefly walked near the office, but never entered it.
The sentences showed that there was a delegated witness who was made the main person in the trial. The court chose to trust Aleksandar Vasilevski – Ninja, despite all the evidence presented by the defense, said lawyer Elenko Milanov.
A controversial decision by the prosecution in the April 27th trial was the fact that there were no charges against former Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska – Milevska.
One of the rare pieces of evidence the prosecution presented that was not linked to a discredited witness, were text messages exchanged Kanceska and two of the defendants, Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristoski. According to prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska, this is evidence that Janakieski and Ristoski were involved in preparing the protests of the movement For a United Macedonia – one of which resulted in the incident on April 27th 2017, when the crowd of protesters were provoked into entering the Parliament.
