Skopje Appeals Court struck down the nine years prison sentence which judge Dobrila Kacarska handed to former deputy Interior Minister Gjoko Popovski in a case initiated by the Special Prosecutors Office (SPO). The move comes as Parliament adopted a law on amnesty for people charged in politically motivated cases, and additional laws that would make it harder to sentence office holders are being proposed.

Popovski was sentenced over the procurement of 300 vehicles used by the Interior Ministry. Popovski was also charged in the case filed against former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, over the purchase of an armored Mercedes vehicle that is being used for visiting dignitaries. The charges against him were widely seen as an attempt to pressure him to lay the blame against Gruevski and help indict him. Gruevski won political asylum in Hungary after presenting details of violations of judicial norms in the five cases led against him, especially after pointing the finger at judge Kacarska, who somehow got the most politically sensitive cases, even though they should be distributed through a random electronic system.

Popovski is still serving out a sentence in the “Mercedes” case.