During the debate with opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev denied ever threatening former Interior Minister Mitko Cavkov, despite video evidence. Cavkov, during whose term in office Zaev was investigated for corruption and who was therefore a thorn in Zaev’s side, was sentenced to draconian 18 years in prison over the allegation that he didn’t intervene soon enough during the April 2017 incident in the Parliament. According to the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, this is a clear case of Zaev ordering a sentence against person who has revealed much of his corrupt practices, and Zaev himself threatened Cavkov the day after the incident.

You better run, run far away from here, Zaev told Cavkov, directly addressing him from a press conference.

But, this evening, Zaev denied ever saying that.

That is not true, I never said that, Zaev responded to Mickoski, who accused him of ordering the unprecedented sentence against him.

For his part, Mickoski said that he condemns the incident in the Parliament, when SDSM representatives were attacked, but that he also condemns the events which provoked the storming of the building – the decision by SDSM and DUI to stage an irregular vote and elect former Albanian terrorist Talat Xhaferi as Speaker. Mickoski said that he also strongly condemns the sentences that were handed to Cavkov, police officials and the protesters.

People who were not violent were given draconian sentences, the total sentences amount to more than two centuries in prison. Meanwhile, we have returnees from Syria, ISIS terrorists, who were given three times lower sentences than Goran Angelov, Jane Cento, Mitko Cavkov, Mitko Pesev, Mickoski told Zaev.

He also asked the Prime Minister to, in turn, condemn the threats sent out from the group of Albanian terrorists who attacked the city of Kumanovo in 2015, killing eight Macedonian officers. The group now seemingly controls the Shutka prison in Skopje, already attacked two of the former VMRO officials detained on Zaev’s orders, and has since threatened Mickoski and former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as well.