Next week, from beginning to end, will be extremely busy with a crowded agenda of events, which are of interest to the public, and the outcome will show how the processes are important for the country, and how they will unfold in the future.
The last week of June, before the official start of the summer holidays, will be fateful for further “reform” activities of the Government, and crucial for the further functioning of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
On the agenda for next week are:
- June 26th – Even though it is a public holiday, Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan on Monday, at the same time, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn arrives in the country, and will be participating in the Government’s session. For now, the Government, even though it was announced, did not say whether the session will be open to the public and whether it will be broadcasted live on the public service MRTV. Vice Prime Minister for European Affairs, Bujar Osmani announced this week, that European Commissioner Hahn will be presented with draft-plan with measures, activities and timeframes for the reform priorities.
- June 27th – A hearing has been scheduled for the “bribe” case. Zoran Zaev, first time as Prime Minister will have to appear before the court where he stands accused that while he was Mayor of Strumica, he asked businessman Ivan Nikolov for a bribe in the amount of 163.924 euros, or 2 euros per square metre of construction land in Strumica. The first hearing of the “bribe” case was scheduled for January 25th, last year, and since then it has been postponed at least a dozen times.
- June 28th – A hearing has been scheduled concerning the violence which occurred in front of the Municipality of Centar in June, 2013. The Special Public Prosecutor’s Office filed this case, and defendants in the so-called “Shamari” case, is the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, former Minister of Transport and Communications, Mile Janakieski, MP Daniela Rangelova and a dozen other indov. Gruevski should come to court first on Wednesday, as the leader of an opposition party.
- June 29th – The Supreme Court has scheduled a public session where they will review the appeals of the six convicts who were given life sentences in the “Monster” case, where five people were found murdered by Smilkovsko Lake. The session, according to the court will be open to the public and will be held in the grand hall of the Supreme Court.
- June 30th – The deadline for the Special Prosecutor’s Office expires soon, for filing indictments for investigations they’ve launched, which are all associated with the wiretapping conversations. Some of the media have reported that the SPO in the next few days, are going to file charges on ten cases. The Special Prosecutor’s Office, in the last two weeks sent a summons to high-ranking officials from VMRO-DPMNE who are under investigation, however, only part of them appeared at the hearing.The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, did not appear at the “Thaler” case, and those who came (Mile Janakieski, Ivo Kotevski, Daniela Rangelova, Sasho Mijalkov) demanded an examination into the evidence and additional time. According to the Law on Criminal Procedure, the SPO is obliged to question suspects before completing the investigation procedures and to file charges.
