Nikola Gruevski

The main opposition party in North Macedonia has used publication of video footage that may further implicate the embattled head of the Special Prosecution, Katica Janeva, to demand early elections.

Katica Janeva, head of the Special Prosecution in North Macedonia, SJO, the body that has spearheaded the fight against high-level crime in the country, submitted her irrevocable resignation on Monday.

In geopolitical terms, unlike many other Balkan countries, especially Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia did not see North Macedonia as part of its immediate strategic interests in the region.

A court in Hungary has rejected a demand from North Macedonia for former prime minister Nikola Gruevski to be extradited to start serving his two-year prison sentence for illegally soliciting the secret purchase of a 580,000-euro Mercedes in 2012.

North Macedonia's Prime Minister and leader of its ruling Social Democratic Party, SDSM, Zoran Zaev, on Sunday said a promised "clean-up" launched after lower than expected results in recent presidential polls would not go without a mass cull of party officials - and will soon include ministers.

There were chaotic scenes at Skopje's Appeals Court on Thursday, with the defendants shouting that they do not recognise the court, at the start of a hearing to decide on whether to hold a retrial of 33 ethnic Albanians who were convicted of involvement in a deadly two-day shootout in the town of Kumanovo in May 2015.

The group of ethnic Albanians appeared in court as they have been granted a retrial by the North Macedonia judicial authorities.

While the authorities in North Macedonia seek his arrest and extradition from Hungary, the country's fugitive ex-prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, has said he intends to release a new book, based on his PhD, at the ongoing Skopje Book Fair.

The harsh sentence drew strong criticism from international human rights organisations, media unions and NGOs. After his release from prison, he spent another eight months under arrest.

His book about his experiences, Life in the Box, was first published in Macedonian in 2017 - the year Gruevski was toppled from power.

Meanwhile, the main problem blocking progress has been solved - 'North Macedonia' has become a reality. Or has it?

State capture

North Macedonia ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski arrives in the court in Skopje, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

This Sunday will see the first round of presidential elections.