Flight Control Engineers Assaulted in Building of M-NAV

President of the Trade Union of the Flight Control department at the Civil Aviation Agency (M-NAV) Aleksandar Tasevski revealed that flight control employees have been assaulted while at work by unknown perpetrators, for which some media claimed are members of DUI.

“Several vehicles came to the object of the flight control department, several people got out of them, and according to statements of employees that were in the building during that time, the security guards did not attempt to prevent them from entering. When they got in, they started to argue with the flight control engineers, my colleagues, and even physically assaulted some of them,” Tasevski wrote on Facebook, and later on Thursday the incident was also confirmed by the Interior Ministry.

The incident follows the press conference of Tasevski and several other employees at M-NAV, at which they announced that starting from Friday, between 20 and 30 flight control engineers and assistants will resign from their positions as protest against the decision of M-NAV Directors Fahrudin Hamidi and Hasim Deari to employ flight control managers despite them refusing to take the necessary qualification tests.

In meantime, one of the M-NAV Directors, Hasim Dehari, wrote on Facebook that he and the other director, Fahrudin Hamidi, filed charges against Tasevski because he addressed them an e-mail with threats.

“He sent us an e-mail in which, among other things, he writes that ‘it is time for you to burn now’, and we had to react to protect our safety,” Dehari wrote.

The Government of North Macedonia announced yesterday evening that it will hold a session on January 9, upon an initiative by PM Dimitar Kovacevski himself, to discuss the possibility for dismissal of the entire board of directors and the management board of M-NAV, and for opening a public call for selection of new management in the most transparent way possible, in accordance with all relevant laws.

The Internal Affairs Ministry (MoI) on their official Facebook page informs that four people involved in the attack have already been taken in for questioning after which, in coordination with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO), they will face relevant charges.

“We are taking measures to locate another four suspects. We also inform the public that MoI will continue securing the M-NAV building in the next period,” the MoI announcement reads.