Ristovska Verdict: Tetovo Office of Association of Judges and Judicial Council Say Longer Sentence Couldn’t have Been Issued

The Tetovo office of the Association of Judges has responded to the reactions to the verdict made by Tetovo Basic Court Judge Elvedin Ferati in the Teodora Ristovska case.

As it said on Thursday, in the retrial, the Judge gave defendant Mensur Pajaziti the max prison sentence, considering the prohibition of reformatio in peius, as a principle provided for in the Criminal Procedure Law.

“Due to the previous decisions by the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, the new verdict mustn’t be changed at the expense of the defendant with regards to both the legal classification of the act and the criminal penalization. Therefore, it’s about a lawful decision”, it was added in the press-release.

When it comes to the Judicial Council, it hasn’t voiced a stand on the verdict. It said in its press-release on Thursday that it had completed the analyses of its case. However, in the press-release, it just said what had gone on in chronological order.

The Council, too, explained that a longer sentence couldn’t have been issued due to the results of the two higher Courts. The Prosecutor’s Office sought a shorter sentence, it was added.