PPO: No one assisted Gruevski in his Escape from Macedonia

The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) found that no official person had helped or participated in the organization and realization of Nikola Gruevski’s escape. So far, the evidence obtained has led to the conclusion that there were certain shortcomings in the actions of the competent institutions, but they did not constitute a criminal offense and were not within the competence of PPO. “Three hotels in Skopje responded that they were not able to extract the recorded video material, for which the competent public prosecutor issued an order for seizing the receivers for recording and their expertise. The complete recorded video material of about 10 terabytes is submitted for analysis to the Ministry of the Interior. This order is still being handled. The competent authorities of Albania, after two urgencies, informed us on January 9 that the requested video material was large and that they do not possess the equipment for its transmission. Our hard-drive teams headed to Albania to seize the requested material, but were orally informed that the material was not preserved, that the duration of the storage of the recorded material differs at different border crossings and is about one month from the last requested date. Until this moment the competent prosecutor has not established the existence of criminal liability of officials who helped or participated in the organization and realization of the escape of the now-convicted Nikola Gruevski. So far, the evidence obtained suggests that there were certain omissions in the actions of the competent institutions, which do not constitute a criminal act and are not within our competence,” PPO informs.