Dusko Ilievski, a farmer activist once close to the ruling SDSM party, who has since broken with it and revealed a number of corruption allegations against SDSM officials, was extradited from Germany to serve 1.5 years in prison.

Ilievski, known as the “Milkman”, is ironically sentenced for assaulting police officers during the SDSM led Colored Revolution in 2015 and SDSM officials once sought to protect him from the charges and portrayed him as a political prisoner, before turning on him. He sought political asylum in Germany after his former party began persecuting him due to a public conflict with former SDSM Secretary General Aleksandar Kiracovski.

Ilievski, who like Kiracovski is from the region of Bitola, was publishing reports of Kiracovski’s abuse of office and corruption. Kiracovski was pressured to resign from his position after revelations linking him to the major Racket scandal, but has still not been prosecuted.