The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party blasted Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Joveski for his statement that disgraced Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva has the right to give up her case files in favor of Joveski’s OJO office, even as she is detained, after being charged with abusing her office.

Giving Janeva’s cases to Joveski is the option favored by the ruling SDSM party, which is desperate to keep control over the state prosecutors who were carrying out its campaign of political persecution of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party.

What if Janeva sends a letter from prison ordering the arrest of prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska, who is investigating her case? Would Joveski still honor that order and consider it legitimate? Allowing Janeva to continue to carry out her authority from detention allows her to cover up the evidence against her and misdirect the investigation. Janeva was involved in extortion worth millions, in cooperation with the Government, and she must be stripped of all her authority, VMRO-DPMNE said in its press release.

The opposition party insists that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is protecting Janeva, throught a soft-touch approach by the OJO prosecutors. VMRO-DPMNE demands that Janeva is dismissed from her position immediately and that a new, truly independent Special Prosecutor’s Office is created.

The fact that the Public Prosecutor is acting on the orders of a person detained for serious crimes and abuse of office is an unprecedented scandal and the final blow against our judicial system. The violent and lawless take-over of the SPO case files, on the orders of the person charged with abusing these very files to extort money and to conduct political persecution, leads to anarchy. Katica Janeva blackmailed VMRO-DPMNE, demanding that we legalize her unlawful actions, promising that in return she will stop some of her cases against us. This tells all we need to know about the reason why these cases were started in the first place. They were being paid 5.000 EUR a month and still they staged criminal charges, using them for extortion. This type of crime needs to be stopped and not continued under a new, unlawful pretext, said VMRO-DPMNE Secretary General Igor Janusev.