Journalist Darko Janevski points out to an article in the law on state prosecutors, proposed by Zaev’s Government, and warns that it could allow the Government to appoint not only the new Special Prosecutor, but also loyalist judges who will allow Zaev to continue carrying out his campaign of political persecution.

After the resignation of disgraced Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, Zaev quickly ended the negotiations with the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party on a new law on state prosecutors, and proposed his own version, nominating another loyalist Vilma Ruskoska, as the new Special Prosecutor. VMRO rejected her nomination outright, and even the Albanian parties, both in the coalition and in the opposition, expressed serious reservations.

But, Janevski warns that article 30 of the law, which states that the cases brought by the new Special Prosecutor “will be heard before a specialized judicial department” will allow Zaev to manage the political trials on both ends – from the prosecution and from the bench. Janeva could at least claim that she was nominally elected by all the major political parties, by consensus, even though she immediately began staffing her office with SDSM party loyalists and never once initiated charges against suspected criminals close to SDSM.

Hundreds of VMRO-DPMNE officials and activists, including members of Parliament, former Ministers and Mayors, faced charges both from Katica Janeva and Vilma Ruskoska, frequently heard before judge Dobrila Kacarska, who also developed a track record of following the Government’s demands.

Not only could we get a Special Prosecutor’s Office, but also a Special Court, what we used to call a “court martial” in the old times. If the new SPO is the “Ruskoska’s Special Prosecutor’s Office”, then the new court might as well be the “Special Kacarska Court”. Zaev intends to rev up his campaign of political persecution using the cases which were initiated by Katica Janeva, and will not be bound by the deadlines which were imposed on Janeva, the seasoned journalist Darko Janevski writes.

The proposal includes creating a Special Prosecutor’s Office which will be tasked with prosecuting high level politicians and businessmen. Unlike Janeva’s office, the new SPO will not be allowed to submit the illegally recorded wiretaps as evidence, but will also have an open hand in opening new cases, whereas Janeva, whose office was always supposed to be temporary, should have stopped opening new cases in mid 2017 – a limitation which she ignored.

VMRO-DPMNE supports the idea of creating a permanent Special Prosecutor’s Office but rejects Ruskoska, insisting that as a Zaev loyalist, she will not dare open criminal cases against members of the current Government, which seems to be heavily involved in Janeva’s alleged racketeering and extortion.