Judicial Council President Kambovski in Interview with RFE Macedonian

In an interview with RFE Macedonian, Judicial Council President Aleksandar Kambovski, asked whether documents have been taken away from the Interior Ministry regarding blacklisted Skopje Court of Appeals Judge Enver Bexheti, says he doesn’t know and wouldn’t want to speculate.

“At that time, I wasn’t Council President and I don’t know exactly which documents and what was taken away from the Council”, he notes.

Asked to comment on the fact that despite his blacklisting, Bexheti still goes to work, Kambovski says it was not a pleasant situation.

“The Council does everything within its possibilities”, he stresses.

Asked whether, in addition to the procedure that saw Bexheti punished by being paid 80% of his salary over a six-month period for him having kept in a drawer the Target-Fortress case, in which ex-Security and Counterintelligence Administration Directorate head Saso Mijalkov was among the defendants, the Council has other initiatives for accountability of Bexheti and, if so, on what grounds the process is being carried out, Kambovski says procedures against judges are secret, according to the law.

When it comes to the criticism of his institution, Kambovski points out it is not considered pressure.

Regarding the issue of Council members elected by Parliament being potentially dismissed over the negative Annual Report and whether the law allows for that, Kambovski stresses the only place where a method or procedure to dismiss a member is in the Council Law.

“I haven’t seen in a different place in laws that there is such a possibility, them being dismissed in some other procedure. So, the dismissal takes place here, within the Council”, he underlines.