English
Former Zaev’s Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi was allowed into house arrest, after the claimed that he would not feel safe in the Skopje detention prison. Grubi claimed that some prisoners there could try to hurt him, and the prosecution, after consulting with the Interior Ministry and the ANB security agency, agreed to waive the request for detention and ask for house arrest.
Grubi was in hiding in Kosovo (and likely Albania) for over a year, which makes the decision to allow him into house arrest seem as too lenient. He is charged with corruption to the tune of 8 million EUR, for authorizing the State Lottery to conduct suspicious procurements of betting machines. He fled to Kosovo days before the charges were made public, with the help of a top businessman from Skopje, but eventually returned on his own will.
I understand the popular revolt after the decision in the case of Artan Grubi. That decision was not met by the Government, but by the state prosecutors, by the judiciary. And the judiciary is independent of the executive. I understand that the citizens find it normal, after the seven years of SDS rule, that Ministers can walk into offices of state prosecutors and dictate charges against their political opponents. It’s the same judiciary that fell to 2 percent public support, under the control of SDS and DUI. We demand complete overhaul of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and SDS was the party that worked against it, said VMRO member of Parliament Brane Petrusevski after the decision caused public reactions.