A day after refusing to detain Bekim Neziri and the other DUI thugs who attacked an air traffic controller in the Skopje airport control center, the police briefly detained their victim, adding another dimension to the shocking scandal. Neziri and his group attacked an ethnic Albanian traffic controller who joined the protest against abuses carried out by the DUI appointed management of the M-NAV navigation service, endangering this essential service.
The Skopje court, led by a DUI appointed judge, decided that there is not enough evidence that the group endangered the safety of moving planes and passengers and allowed Neziri and his men to remain free until the trial begins. Neziri, a former Economy Minister and former head of M-NAV, remains employed in the agency and could likely threaten its employees again.
The victim of the attack stopped communicating with the investigations and, likely fearing further pressure from the DUI party, tried to flee to Kosovo today. He was detained at the Blace border crossing and taken for questioning.
The move indicates that the powerful ruling party is using the state institutions to intimidate the victim. Police previously summoned Aleksandar Tasevski, head of the M-NAV union who led the opposition to the abuses of the DUI appointed management, to a questioning in a police station, on the premise that he threatened the M-NAV managers.
Tomislav Tuntev, head of the ACV agency for civilian air traffic, appointed by the DUI coalition partner SDSM, also tried to minimize the incident today. “Following the immediate inspection conducted by ACV, it was determined that there was no endangerment of the air traffic and there are no reports of a serious incident that would affect the safety”, Tuntev said.
The Government is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to remove the M-NAV management and to audit the work of the institution. If DUI digs in on this matter, it’s possible that the proposal will be ignored or delayed.
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