A disturbing, dark atmosphere. Every question aimed at Zaev was met with a tense response. Evasive and unseemly. This is how journalist Aleksandar Mitovski described the press conference Zoran Zaev held today during which he insisted that he is innocent in the Racket scandal. The press conference was seemingly timed with the move by prosecutors to reveal a message meant to show that Zaev was not directly involved in the extortion of millions from businessmen.
The press conference was held as Zaev is trying to push a new law on state prosecutors through the Macedonian Parliament. Forced to adopt a new law after the spectacular meltdown of the Macedonian judiciary, caused by the Katica Janeva racketeering scandal, the law would strengthen Zaev’s stranglehold over the prosecutors. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party says that it is tailor made to protect Zaev from scrutiny after the April 12 elections which his SDSM party is expected to lose.
Zaev told us that the law does not include hidden amnesties. As if he wouldn’t want one. Zaev tried to present himself as a fighter for justice, even after he buried any notion of justice, Mitovski writes.
The Infomax journalist faces criminal charges from prosecutors linked to Zaev after a series of investigative reports that revealed crimes and corruption on the part of Zaev and his lieutenants.
The disturbing atmosphere in the SDSM party headquarters was created by a group of zombified party supporters, most of them elderly, who shouted “Zoki, Zoki” without even listening to what he was saying. They screamed at the journalists demanding we show our press credentials, declare where we come from, and asking us not to upset their party leader. Some of the fellow journalists succumbed to this form of pressure. They improvised with their questions, mindful not to upset the crowd. I don’t know how I endured staying in the SDSM press center, Mitovski writes, adding that he was prevented from asking about the proposed PPO law.
The law provides that unwarranted wiretaps will no longer be admissible as evidence before the court, after Zaev and his allies such as Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva used them with abandon, for years, against their political opponents in the VMRO-DPMNE party. Once Zaev is in the opposition, the same rules will not apply to him, despite the many allegations of corruption, some of which are substantiated with recorded phone conversations and home security cameras.
Zaev insists that this new, third version of the PPO law he sent to the Parliament does not contain a hidden amnesty. That is what he would have the public believe. But the law states that all illegally recorded materials won’t be used as indications of crimes by the prosecutors, preventing the prosecutors from acting upon them, Mitovski said, adding that, if a new tape surfaces tomorrow, showing Zaev taking millions in bribes, it would not be used to build a case against him.
Zaev was pardoned from corruption charges in 2008, and was found not guilty after similar charges were filed in 2015 – supported by lawfully recorded video evidence. He also had Janeva drop charges against him for his involvement in the abuse of the secret police surveillance systems to record his political opponents. Numerous corruption scandals after Zaev grabbed power in 2017 point his way, but the current team of prosecutors are not willing to investigate him more closely.
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