As witnessed recently the Criminal Court Skopje 1 proceedings will be conducted to the very last detail and will delay appeals made by the Special Prosecutor at the preliminary hearings, and the decisions made by the judges involved. They dismissed pre-trial detention requests for suspects in Operation “Titanic”.
Practically, since Friday, following the SPP’s press conference, the countdown to deadlines has begun with proceedings unfolding in the following pattern:
Firstly, Request for pre-trial detention ⇒ Questioning ⇒ Judge’s ruling⇒ SPP appeal of lawyers appeal ⇒ Council of Judges ruling ⇒ SPP appeal of lawyers appeal ⇒ Court of Appeal’s decision.
The Judge in the preliminary proceedings. after several hours of questioning yesterday, decided to reject the request of the SPP for pre-trial detention for former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska and Secretary General of Government Kiril Bozinovski. The same decision was made by the court for the former Minister of Transport & Communications Mile Janakieski and the Mayor of Pustec Edmond Temelko, plus another five suspects in the first operation under Katica Janeva.
The Special Prosecutor and her team have appealed against court decisions regarding former minister Janakieski and Mayor Temelko, and it is certain that the SPP will use this legal avenue to appeal against court rulings regarding Jankuloska and Bozinovski as well as requesting the court to review decisions made by judges in the preliminary investigations.
