SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski came out at a press conference on Tuesday to reveal details concerning the case of the alleged escape from justice of former UBK Head and defendant in Target-Fortress case Saso Mijalkov. Spasovski revealed in details the entire processes that took place from the latest hearing over the Target-Fortress case till Sunday night, when the police were unable to locate Mijalkov. “On Saturday around 12:30 p.m. Head of Public Prosecution for Organised Crime Vilma Ruskovska contacted me to inform me that Mijalkov is attempting escape, and later at 05:00 p.m. we received notice claiming that Ruskovska indeed had information that Mijalkov will attempt escape. We notified the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which issued a warrant for undercover supervision of Mijalkov around 10:30 p.m. On Sunday, we attempted to acquire more information through the Department for Security and Counter-intelligence, but unsuccessfully. The last time Mijalkov was visually confirmed by our agents was around 06:40 p.m. on Sunday heading towards the hotel Marriott with one woman and three men with him. After this, three vehicles emerged from the underground garages of the hotel, but our agents could not confirm if Mijalkov was in one of them. Then, around 09:30 p.m., when police officers attempted to deliver to him the house arrest resolution issued by the Criminal Court, they could not find him at the address of his home. They checked three other flats in Skopje, but he was not there either,” Spasovski said. Answering questions of journalists, Interior Minister Spasovski said that in order for one to feel responsible in this case, one should’ve conducted errors in the proceedings, or to not have acted in accordance with the laws. “We did all we could in accordance with our authorisations. If we need to locate responsibility somewhere, then that would be in the outdated and unfunctional system. Now we need to focus on resolving these cases and dealing with the errors of the system, hence I believe a resignation of mine is not the right response to this. It would only contribute to the criminals and the crime in this state, which is why we have to keep our focus and do our best to tackle these challenges, and internal investigations are to reveal if Mijalkov had any links within the institutions of the state that could’ve given him information so he could plan his escape,” Spasovski said.
