The Special Public Prosecutor submitted a USB as evidence to Basic Court Skopje 1, but it was encrypted and could not be opened, therefor, the SPO’s motions for precautionary measures in the “Vault” case have been returned to the SPO, announced the court.
“The SPO filed three motions to the court for determining precautionary measures for four individuals and the evidence together with just a written statement – a document that, according to the law should be available to judges when deciding on the motions , and was submitted in an electronic format, in the form of a memory stick (USB) and the judges of the preliminary procedure, which according to the law, immediately after receiving the motions, begin with proceedings, could not access the USB because it was is encrypted “, explained Basic Court Skopje 1.
They added that once the SPO were informed, they received a verbal response that the evidence can only be viewed exclusively in their presence and that only they can have the right to access the evidence.
“It is unclear how the judges of the preliminary procedure should act on the motions and how they will review the evidence before acting upon it, how will they call all parties involved, including the authorized prosecutor, and all this before reviewing the written proposal. In accordance with the Law on Criminal Procedure, in any motion the clients and all involved are obliged, together with the proposal, to submit legally valid evidence in proper written form, so the court can act and decide accordingly. This is unprecedented in proceedings before the court”, said the court.
