Today’s hearing in the “Putsch” affair was adjourned to October the 5th, as defendant Zoran Zaev, President of the opposition SDSM failed to show at court in a case arising from alleged corruption and organised crime.
At the hearing, the prosecution requested that Mr Zaev submit his passport as a precaution, due to the serious nature of his alleged crimes, making it impossible for him to leave the countries borders.
The judge in the cZase, Ljubinka Bashevska confirmed that Mr Zaev had been successfully served with a summons, rendering him with no reason for his absence.
Although at the last hearing on the 5th of August, it was said that if Mr Zaev was to fail to show up again, an armed guard would be implemented, escorting him to trial, however these measures were not mentioned at today’s hearing.
Defence attorney Angele Ilievski, in a press statement, agreed with the Prosecution’s motion to strip Mr Zaev of his passport because the previous measure was pointless.
He also added, that his client’s case should be passed on to the new special prosecutor, and the court will no longer be able to try the case,
“Now, we should be thinking of the new special public prosecutor, as whoever is appointed will be taking over this whole affair and the court will no longer be in charge. Now, we are left to follow political and legal developments, and then we can state our opinion on the matter”, said Mr Zaev’s defence attorney.
Others accused along with the opposition leader are the former Director of the Security and Counterintelligence (UBK), Zoran Verushevski his wife Sonja Verushevski, Branko Palifrov from the council in Strumica, and Ministry Interior official (MOI), Georgi Lazarevski.
