Prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska acknowledged that there is no factual evidence that the DPNE organized the United Macedonia protests on April 27 2017, during which the incident in the Parliament occurred. Ruskoska, who is one of the most reliable supporters of the Zaev regime in the judiciary, is pursuing a number of former DPNE officials for the incident, which erupted when the SDSM and DUI parties staged an irregular vote to elect a new Speaker – a move opposed by nearly all ethnic Macedonians.
During the hearing today, Ruskoska confirmed that there is no decision made at the level of the DPNE to support the protests. Instead, she is relying on the testimony of a “witness”, who is eager to receive a lighter sentence for participating in the incident. The court today heard from former VMRO officials Gordana Jankuloska and Nikola Todorov, who both confirmed that the party never made a decision to support or organize the protests, which had their own organization structure.
To a degree the statements from the witnesses are correct. There is no official document that the party is organizing the protests. I can’t tell what effect will the witness testimony have on the court. Once the verdict is reached, we will know the court’s thinking. The testimonies from the witnesses are identical – there is no official document reached at the Executive Committee or Central Committee level of the party to support their involvement in the organizing of the protests, Ruskoska said.
