The Macedonian Prosecutors Office (OJO) has prosecuted protesters with incredible speed. Protesters who stormed Parliament were identified through cameras, located and detained in cities like Skopje, Tetovo, Prilep, Ohrid and Bitola. Some were jailed and others brought in front of a Court all within a week, reports Dnevnik.
However, even though criminal charges were filed against Talat Xhaferi, Zaev and 64 other MPs literally one day after the Coup, the Prosecution Office claims it is “gathering” evidence and has assigned a nameless prosecutor to the case – reports Dnevnik.
The issue with these remarks from the OJO is that, despite 25 days going by, all evidence is available at their fingertips, the entire fiasco by the SDS and DUI is captured on Parliament’s cameras. Thus, the evidence is there, there is no need to “gather” anything.
However, reports Dnevnik, the OJO is under extreme pressure from foreign diplomats to either drop the charges which will likely infuriate the public, or endlessly prolong the case, which appears the route the OJO has taken.
It is not known whether the OJO will prosecute any of the MPs once they are done “gathering” all of their evidence. This is a perfect example how broken Macedonian institutions are at this time.
Thus far, the following cases are pending for nearly a year:
– Zaev’s bribery case has been postponed 8 times, with no end in sight.
– Soros activists who set Ivanov’s office on fire are still not on trial (but protesters who stormed Parliament have trials scheduled within two weeks).
– Soros activists who attacked policemen are still free, no trial scheduled.
– Soros activists and SDS MPs who destroyed private property and threw paint on Government buildings and monuments are still free, no trial scheduled (but a Veles man got a 3 year jail sentence for stealing kebabs because he was hungry).
The real question is, who is going to prosecute the prosecutors?
