Former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, who has been in prison for three years over one of the criminal cases launched by the disgraced Special Prosecutor’s Office, did her first interview since her imprisonment. In it, Jankuloska gave her full support to the “current, legitimate leadership of VMRO-DPMNE”, endorsing party President Hristijan Mickoski, who she recently met with during a leave of absence.

Honestly, I’m little distant from daily politics and the events, but mu interest remains keen. This was a meeting of old friends and a good opportunity for me to be informed about some issues that I did not fully understand, Jankuloska said.

She added that she remained close only with former Transportation Minister Mile Janakieski, who was also recently ordered to begin serving a prison sentence. Regarding former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who lives in exile in Hungary, Jankuloska said that she is not in touch with him and while she has no problem meeting him, they don’t have anything to talk about. “I clearly expressed my disagreement with his decision to flee the country. It’s a fact that both Nikola Gruevski and we, as former members of the leadership of the party, faced horrific atmosphere of politically motivated persecution and were left with no room to articulate legal arguments before the Macedonian judiciary. It’s a fact that he was a victim of political persecution, but the step he undertook significantly led to a change in the dynamic of this political persecution for the rest of us. It was crystal clear to him, but he chose to do so anyway”.