Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski blamed the court for the embarassing escape of murderer Igor Spasov, whose case was instrumental in the rise to power of the SDSM party.

Spasov, a former policeman sentenced to 14 years in prison for the brutal 2011 murder of 20 year old Martin Neskovski, was allowed to spend a year out of prison under the Zaev – Spasovski regime and during this time he apparently fled the country, most likely for the Netherlands.

Minister Spasovski today said that the judiciary will have to be changed, is not functional and leaves a lot of room for corruption. He insisted that the Government should conduct a vetting of judges and prosecutors, a procedure feared to lead to even greater Government interference in the judiciary.

The SDSM party seized on the murder to spread conspiracy theories about alleged high level Government plot to shield Spasov as he killed a young man who attended the VMRO-DPMNE election party following the 2001 vote. After using edited tapes about the case to drum up support and to energize their 2015 Colored Revolution, SDSM leader Zoran Zaev cordially met with Spasov in prison.

Spasov hired Vane Andreev as his lawyer – a man who defended Zaev against his numerous criminal charges, and eventually received a lengthy and likely bogus medical sick leave from prison which was co-signed by a doctor who is his relative. He was supposed to return to prison in mid October, when it was revealed that he likely fled the country.