English
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the verdict regarding the 2019 Durmo Turs – Laskarci bus accident is a disappointment and a consequence of “vestiges and remnants” of the previous Government that are still active within the judicial system, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today. The guilty sentences over the disaster which killed 16 passengers were rescinded by the Supreme Court and the case is sent to retrial.
You see how desperately they fight; they grant them amnesty. That was the case with the modular hospital fire in Tetovo, and it is the same now with Laskarci. We have dozens of victims and many people left with permanent disabilities, yet unfortunately, that is not reason enough for these few judges and prosecutors to stand on the side of justice. Instead, they remain loyal servants to those who appointed them in the past. And that is yet another disappointment—not just for me, but for the citizens in general, Mickoski said. According to him, this small number of judges taints the honest judges and prosecutors within our judicial system; however, as he emphasized, “it is good for our European Union colleagues to observe these examples and see—when we speak of the judiciary—exactly who we are dealing with and the kind of challenge we are essentially up against.”
Sometimes I feel like we are tilting at windmills, as if this whole thing is a Quixotic battle. You pursue and imprison individuals—people against whom there is reasonable suspicion or even a final court verdict—only for them to be released; and as a result of these actions, dozens of people have lost their lives, yet it is treated as if nothing happened. That means nothing to them because they received such an order from the person who appointed them—their master, their boss. It is a huge disappointment, stated Mickoski.