Skopje Criminal Court

Nikola Gruevski, who was tried in absentia, was found guilty at Skopje Criminal Court on Thursday of unlawfully acquiring over 1.3 million euros from his former ruling VMRO DPMNE party, and of instigating a money-laundering scheme to cover his tracks and buy property with the proceeds.

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.

Skopje Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced Agim Ismailovic, Afrim Ismailovic and Alil Demiri to life in prison, finding them guilty of terrorism for committing the murders of five ethnic Macedonians - a crime that shook the nation in 2012 and has continued to cause inter-ethnic tensions and speculation about political meddling.

Skopje Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced Democratic Union for Integration, DUI party officials Ejup Alimi and Ismet Guri to three-and-a-half years in jail each for the "destruction of electoral materials" in Skopje's municipality of Cair during the 2013 local polls.

The trial has started in Skopje of those charged with organising a mob assault on parliament in North Macedonia in April 2017, aimed at preventing the then opposition Social Democrats from taking power.

Zoran Zaev gave two-and-a-half hours of evidence on Monday at Skopje Criminal Court about wiretapped conversations between former high-ranking North Macedonian officials that relatives of the victims and the defendants had hoped would shed more light on the case.

Dealing a death blow to a trial of the fugitive former prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, the main judge in the case codenamed TNT, Ognen Stavrev, on Monday said jury member Lijana Ivanovska Kockovska had resigned, rendering the entire process null and void.

Stavrev scheduled a new start for the trial on Tuesday, warning defence lawyers not to try to stall the case any further.

The former speaker of parliament in North Macedonia, Trajko Veljanoski, faces trial together with former transport minister Mile Janakieski, former education minister Spiro Risteski and former secret police chief Vladimir Atanasovski, after the Skopje Criminal Court on Thursday said it had accepted the charges pressed against them.

North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev appeared before the Skopje Criminal Court on Thursday as a witness in the ongoing case "Target-Fortress", in which former top interior ministry and secret police officials are charged with masterminding and carrying out a massive illegal wiretapping operation.

North Macedonia's State Prosecution on Thursday laid charges against the country's former head special prosecutor on two grounds, for "taking a reward for illegal influence" and for "misuse in office".