English
Former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska was found not guilty in the SPO case over the destruction of old wiretapping equipment. The Skopje court found three former state security officers guilty and handed them long prison terms, while another suspect was given a suspended sentence.
The case was initiated by the deeply politicized SPO unit of special prosecutors, which launched dozens of cases meant to destroy the previous VMRO-DPMNE led Government. In this particular case, SPO alleged that the destruction of the wiretapping equipment was done in order to destroy evidence of illegal wiretapping.
We are satisfied with the sentence. We expect that the Appeals Court will confirm it and that we can then press for damages as well as to determine who was actually conducting the wiretapping. Gordana Jankuloska was one of the biggest victims of the wiretapping, said Vladimir Ilievski, Jankuloska’s husband and part of her legal team.
The court sentenced state security officials Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boskovski to 14 years and six months, and nine years and 10 months in prison. Both have received asylum in Greece, where they fled shortly after the politically motivated case against them was launched. Toni Jakimovski, formed chief of staff to then state security chief Saso Mijalkov, was sentenced to three years in prison. Valentina Simonovska was handed a two years suspended sentence.
