Dragan Daravelski, former head of the Macedonian Customs who has been evading extradition in Serbia for two decades, will likely avoid serving out his sentence. Daravelski, son of former Parliament Speaker Tomislav Stojanovski and former high level VMRO-DPMNE official from the days of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, unexpectedly returned to Macedonia today and was detained.

He is sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office worth 2.5 million EUR. He was charged as part of the massive purge of VMRO officials from Georgievski’s Government in 2002, carried out by the SDSM led Government of Branko Crvenkovski. Daravelski was sentenced in absentia in 2007.

According to early reports, Daravelski was assured before his return that the acts he is charged with have met the statute of limitations. The Justice Ministry continued to request his extradition from Serbia and he was detained in Belgrade in 2016 but was not extradited.