North Macedonia Jails Ex-Secret Police Chief in Wiretapping Case

In a first-instance verdict, the Skopje Criminal Court on Friday found the former head of the secret police, Saso Mijalkov, guilty on all three accounts, of criminal association, abuse of office and receiving a reward for illegal influence, handing him a jail sentence of 12 years.

The verdict in the pivotal trial that aimed to determine responsibility for the massive illegal wiretapping affair that was at the heart of North Macedonia's prolonged political crisis a few years ago comes six years after the then opposition Social Democrats first revealed the operation in 2015.

The revelations plunged the country into a deep political crisis, which only ended with the ousting of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his VMRO DPMNE party in mid-2017.

The court also found the other 10 defendants in the high-profile "Target-Fortress" trial guilty. All the suspects were former senior police officials and employees.

Former secret police officials Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boskoski were sentenced to 15 years in jail each, having been found guilty of criminal association and misuse of office. The two men were tried in absentia, however, as they are hiding from justice in Greece.

Former secret police official Toni Jakimovski was sentenced to six years, while another former secret police official, Nadica Nikolic, got three years, having been found guilty of participating in the criminal group that organised and carried out the illegal wiretapping.

The court also handed four years' jail to former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska who was found guilty of helping to destroy the surveillance equipment used for the illegal wiretapping during 2015.

According to the charges, between 2008 and 2015, when Gruevski was in power, the...

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