Though the Interior Ministry hasn’t revealed new details about the minutes from the Judicial Council because the pre-investigation process is underway, the PM, Hristijan Mickoski, commented on the matter on Friday.
“The operation that took place yesterday aims, as you said, to confirm the reasonable suspicion of falsification of minutes of the Judicial Council’s work, through which, basically, the will of and opinion of Council members would be manipulated by individuals. I expect it to be settled very soon, today”, he stressed.
According to Telma, the minutes concern meetings where there was a debate on the duration of the term of Vesna Dameva as President of the body. The Council didn’t comment on the allegations.
“The Council cooperates and will continue to cooperate with all relevant organs and institutions in the country, guided by the principles of independent, responsible, and transparent judiciary. It is distancing itself from any influence and pressures from within and outside, with that aiming at protection of the judiciary’s independence and integrity”, the body noted.
On Thursday, an investigator from the Skopje Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, too, went to the Council, where he requested and got the file concerning the disciplinary proceedings against Skopje Court of Appeals Judge Enver Bexheti, who had been blacklisted by the US four days prior.
“An investigator from the Investigative Centre of the Office requested and took over from the Council all reports regarding the procedures to determine liability of judges who acted in the Target-Fortress case. Other action, too, is being taken to fully look into the event”, the Prosecutor’s Office stressed.
The Target-Fortress process, which concerns last decade’s wiretapping scandal and where ex-Administration for Security and Counterintelligence head Saso Mijalkov was among the defendants, was kept in a drawer by Judge Bexheti for more than nine months.
In November 2023, the Judge faced action by the Council over that. However, his punishment consisted only of him being paid 80% of his salary over a six-month period.