Macedonian protests

Releasing the latest in a series of wiretapped tapes on Tuesday, opposition Social Democrats leader Zoran Zaev said the conversations in the new batch of recordings prove the authorities tried to cover up the killing of 21-year-old Martin Neskovski.

Neskovski was beaten to death the night that the ruling VMRO DPMNE celebrated its election victory on June 6, 2011.

Macedonian opposition leader indicted

SKOPJE -- The Macedonian Prosecution for Organized Crime and Corruption has indicted a group of suspects in the so-called "Coup Case".

Among them is leader of the opposition SDSM party Zoran Zaev.

The Macedonian state prosecutor formally indicted the country's top opposition politician late on April 30 over his role in a surveillance scandal that challenged the nine-year rule of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. 

For months Zoran Zaev, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats has been publishing wire-taps he says he received from a whistleblower. 

Germany's Ambassador to Skopje has urged the Macedonian cabinet to make sure that accusations hurled by the opposition are followed by resignations.

At Tuesday's session in Luxembourg, the EU Council adopted four conclusions on Macedonia, focusing on the political crisis in the country and on ways to exit it.

The Council urged Macedonian leaders to "rapidly address" concerns by restarting the stalled political dialogue in the country.

Labenishta tendered his resignation at the weekend from the junior ruling party, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, together with the party's longstanding organisational secretary Hazbi Lika and Shefik Duraki, the head of the DUI's branch in the village of Arcinovo near Skopje.

Behind closed doors and without high expectations, negotiating teams from the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, meet for the second time at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

At its 19th press conference in recent weeks on the subject of alleged government wiretapping, the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, on Tuesday presented covertly-recorded tapes that they say further prove that the ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been systematically and massively employing its own people in all state institutions and punishing those who think diff

The opposition Social Democrats presented covertly-recorded tapes on Monday that they said proved that PM Nikola Gruevski personally agreed an amnesty in the four war-crimes cases related to alleged atrocities committed by ethnic Albanians.

Macedonia has been left divided by comments of the British Ambassador to Skopje, who said Tuesday the option of having a transitional government in the country should be considered.