Zvonko Davidovic

North Macedonia's outgoing chief Special Prosecutor, Katica Janeva, who was detained in August 21 as a suspect in the high-profile "Extortion" affair, has been criticised for sending a letter to her colleagues demanding that all their cases be transferred to the regular prosecutor's office.

Legal experts suspect that the charges raised against nine alleged participants in the April 27 violence in parliament are too mild and may be part of a plan to prevent them from ever standing trial for much more serious offences.

The prosecution charged the nine suspects with "participation in a violent crowd that prevented police officials from performing [their] duty".

Macedonia's top court is in a state of unprecedented turmoil after 15 colleagues of Court President Vladimir Pancevski demanded he stop pressuring fellow judges and misusing his position for personal vendettas and called on him to resign.

Inmates complaining of selective justice have announced protests will start at noon local time on Thursday in all Macedonian prisons, alongside parallel rallies in front of the prisons at which their relatives, supporters and civil rights NGOs will express their dissatisfaction.