Gruevski Races Against Time to Avoid Macedonian Jail

Macedonia's ex-Prime Minister and former ruling VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski is involved in a legal race against time that will determine whether he will serve his two-year jail sentence which was handed down in a first-instance verdict in May, or not have to serve any jail time because the statute of limitations has passed.

Gruevski is expected to appear on Friday at the Skopje Appeals Court, where he is appealing against his jail sentence for his involvement in the illicit secret purchase of a luxury Mercedes back in 2012.

The hearing comes after the court on Thursday postponed the session for a day due to Gruevski's absence, which his lawyers justified with his obligation to appear at another trial at the Skopje criminal court.

The Appeals Court has three options - to confirm the first-instance verdict, to alter the verdict or to order a retrial of the case, which is codenamed 'Tank'.

But unless the court confirms the jail sentence and does so by the end of October, the entire case is under risk of passing the statute of limitations due to legal provisions.

Under the law, a criminal act passes the statute of limitations if the amount of time that has passed since the crime is twice as long as the longest possible jail sentence for the offence.

In this case, the prosecution accuses Gruevski of a crime that happened in 2012 and the highest possible sentence is three years. This means that six years have to pass since the crime was committed, which will be the case in October.

If the Appeals Court opts for a retrial, there will be not enough time to organise it. 

Gruevski may walk free even if the court is late with reaching its decision.

The hearing at the Appeals...