Trial over Extortion Case Continues

Prosecutor Ivana Trajceva presented at Tuesday’s hearing over the Extortion case messages that suspect Bojan Jovanovski would send to several people, including the then-PM, Zoran Zaev. According to the presented evidence, Jovanovska, via WhatsApp and VIber, would forward messages from communication with, as photos showed, the leader of SDSM. According to what was presented, in April of last year, Jovanovski, one month after the opening of the investigation, asked Zaev to receive him, claiming he had never abused his name. To this, Zaev responded he had seen the evidence, was bitter, and facing serious decisions. “What’s happening is horrific, and I, as President of the Government, have the duty and will act,” the then-PM wrote. In another message, Zaev said “this is pure extortion”. The hearing started after one-hour recess, during which doctors had examined Jovanovski after he had complained that he wasn’t able to be part of the trial. After the examination, Judge Vaska Nikolovska – Masevska read the Gastroenterohepatology Clinic’s notification, which says that Jovanovski has chronic gastritis and that malignant materials weren’t found, after which she stated that the trial would resume.