Zoran Zaev spokesman Mile Bosnjakovski announced that the armored Mercedes vehicle, over which former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was sentenced to prison and had to flee the country, will not be sold after all.

Despite Zaev’s frequent pre-election promises that the vehicle used to transport top visiting dignitaries, will be sold and the proceeds used to purchase first response vehicles, Bosnjakovski announced that won’t be the case.

We are already purchasing ambulances with other means. The Mercedes is a symbol of overspending and this Government has renounced it, the Prime Minister is not using it. It is part of an active judicial proceeding and until it is completed, it remains where it is, Bosnjakovski said.

Despite his claims, the vehicle was used to transport many visiting dignitaries, including those such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who came to support Zaev ahead of the September 2018 referendum.

The prosecutors could not prove that Gruevski took money over the purchase of the vehicle, so instead, in the element of the case against him where they had to prove that he gained something from the purchase, they list that he “sometimes used the vehicle himself”. Macedonia suffered a car bomb assassination attempt against President Gligorov, President Trajkovski died in a plane crash, and the country went through one insurgency in 2001 and a major terror attack on Kumanovo during Gruevski’s term in office, and has legal requirements that top officials have to be protected, including with armored vehicles.

To appease supporters who demanded the sale of the vehicle which Zaev turned into a symbol, Bosnjakovski said that the Government will fund the purchase of 12 new ambulances and the refurbishing of eight vehicles now used by the Agriculture Ministry.