The trial in the April 2017 incident resumes tomorrow with the testimony of Aleksandar Vasilevski – Ninja, who has been the go-to witness of prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska in both iterations of the trial.
“Ninja” participated in the protest against the election of Talat Xhaferi as Parliament Speaker, which led to the creation of the Zaev led Government and the abandonment of long defended Macedonian national red lines. In the first trial, against participants in the protests and Interior Minister Mitko Cavkov, Ninja was wheeled out to support all claims raised by Ruskoska in exchange for leniency. The trial eventually resulted in lengthy sentences for participants in the protest, but amnesties for the members of Parliament who decided to support the imposed name change, and is widely seen as ending with a mockery of justice.
A similar approach is expected from him during the second trial, in which Ruskoska is going against former top officials of the VMRO-DPMNE party, alleging that the party organized the protests. Several early witnesses Ruskoska called denied the allegation that the protest were driven by the conservative party. Defense attorney Elenko Milanov said that he expects that “Ninja” will give an honest statement.
We’ll see how his testimony goes. I expect that he will stand by his initial statement that the entry into the Parliament was spontaneous and without a pre-prepared plan, Milanov said.
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