Regarding the case of former DPM Grubi, Justice Minister Filkov has requested that the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors urgently hold sessions to determine if there are grounds for accountability of the judge and public prosecutor who decided to replace the detention measure with a house arrest one.
As he stated on Tuesday, though he hasn’t commented on concrete decisions by courts and prosecutor’s offices up to that point, in the Grubi case, the public has a right to get answers, especially since the former DPM was at large for 14 months, while the risk of fleeing had already been established.
He called upon Public Prosecutor Daniel Kocev, the head of the Prosecutor’s Office, Anel Fidoski, and the Criminal Court’s Judge in the previous procedure, Marin Stanevski, to publicly explain the legal arguments on the basis of which the decision had been based.
The Minister also said that an explanation would be requested regarding conditions in detention facilities, as would extraordinary inspection at correctional institutions to determine the safety situation. In response, Judicial Council member Suzana Joshevska-Anastasovska said there was no need for an urgent session.
“A judge MUST NOT issue a detention measure if there is a proposal from a prosecutor for house arrest”, she noted.