Judge Tatjana Mihajlova, who is also the acting president of the Criminal Court, has dismissed part of the intercepted calls, known as “bombs” and the testimony of a protected witness to be used as evidence in the SPO’s trial against Nikola Gruevski, Mile Janakieski, Daniela Rangelova and 11 other accused of violence outside the municipality Centar in June 2013.
Judge Mihajlova explained that according to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Witness Protection, a protected witness’s testimony can not be used in this case for violence, and as the “bombs” were obtained in an illegal manner, it goes against the Constitution and laws that guarantee human rights and several international conventions.
After the hearing, defence lawyer Nikola Dodevski said he was shocked that the SPO had submitted so much “illegal evidence”. Throughout the hearing, he noted that a protected witness can only be used in cases when it comes to crimes against the state, humanity and organized crime, while in this case the law does not permit a protected witness to be used in the hearing.
Today, instead of the beginning of the main hearing, a preliminary hearing was held. Prosecutor Fetai objected, and said that according to the summons they had received, they had prepared for the main hearing, not a preliminary hearing where the list of evidence would be debated and therefore they had not brought the original evidence.
The next hearing has been scheduled for February 22, 2017.
