Saso Dukovski, lawyer to former Interior Minister Mitko Cavkov, says that his client was detained on Monday evening based on an unreliable statement from an alleged friend who claimed that Cavkov plans to leave Macedonia for Greece.

The statement alleged that Cavkov owns a house east of Solun/Thessaloniki, and that he’s planning to seek safety there. Dukovski reminds the public that Cavkov already deposited 600.000 EUR in guarantees that he will not flee the country as he expects sentencing in the April 2017 case.

Some close friend of Cavkov reportedly told a police officer from the Alfa unit that Cavkov has a vlla in Chalkidiki an dplans to escape. This was then urgently turned into a reason for detention, without any official documents being prepared and without any realistic evidence. The court considered this statement reason enough to order detention. Cavkov provided guarantees in real-estate owned by his family. Are we to believe that he would have left his entire family homeless by fleeing?, Dukovski said.

Cavkov was already exposed to abusive behavior by the SDSM led Government, when he was re-detained only hours after the court ordered his release from prison into house arrest. While in prison, SDSM party affiliated guards took pictures of him in an attempt to humiliate the former Interior Minister.
Cavkov refused an offer of amnesty in the trial which was used to pressure and blackmail dozens of former VMRO-DPMNE officials and activists, including at least three members of Parliament who were pressured to vote in favor of renaming Macedonia under the threat of facing over a decade in prison on “terrorism” charges.

The Cavkov family claims they don’t own a house or villa in Greece. Zorica Cavkova, the ex-minister’s daughter, said that the cited sources were “ordered to make up a false report” in order to provide grounds for the detention of her father.