Special Public Prosecutor, Katica Janeva, hopes that the extradition proceedings for defendants, Goran Grujovski and Nikola Boshkovski will end soon and that the trial will begin soon as well.
“We have been informed by the Ministry of Interior that the two defendants were detained in Thessaloniki. We do not have any more information, and in the further part of the procedure we do not have jurisdiction. We hope that the extradition procedure will end as soon as possible, that they will be transferred to Macedonia from Greek custody and that the trial will begin soon”, Janeva told Deutsche Welle.
Yesterday, Boskovski and Grujovski were arrested by Greek police at the “Macedonia” airport in Thessaloniki, when they attempted to leave Greece with false Bulgarian passports. They had been on the run for three months in order to avoid a detainment ruling after the SPO filed charges for the “Fortress” and “Target” case, for the illegal wiretapping of thousands of citizens by misusing the monitoring systems within the Ministry of Interior, as well as for the physical destruction of part of the equipment. As they were detained abroad, they will now have to provide legal defense from there.
On average, extradition procedures can last from three to six months and it depends on the speed at which the Ministry of Justice will send the translated material from the prosecution acts for which both are being charged before the Criminal Court. Based on this evidence, the Greek authorities should decide whether to extradite the detainees.
