English
The family of former Appeals court judge Gjoko Ristov, who is charged with abuse of office and corruption, claimed in court that the 350,000 EUR found walled in in their family home in Negotino represented decades of savings and not gains from corruption. Ristov was charged after he allowed a businessman suspected with money laundering for the Zaev clan out of detention.
At the hearing in the Skopje Criminal Court, the accused’s mother, Donka Ristova, was the first to testify. She claimed that the money had been accumulated over decades through farming, the sale of produce, saving, and the management of family assets. According to her testimony, the family grew and sold watermelons, melons, peppers, walnuts, apricots, and other agricultural products. They would then convert their earnings into foreign currency and keep the cash in the house.
“Since when is it shameful to earn money from farming?” wrote Simona Ristova—wife of appellate judge Gjoko Ristov—on social media regarding the money found in his parents’ home in Negotino. The testimony given by her in-laws—specifically Donka—went viral last week after they stated that the money came from farming and from knitting until the early morning hours.