The Constitutional Court today determined that illegally obtained wiretaps were admissible as evidence in the trials against former VMRO-DPMNE officials. In many of the politically motivated trials that started after 2015, the wiretaps, of dubious origin and authenticity, were the only bit of evidence against the defendants.

Defense attorney Vladimir Ilievski, whose wife, former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, faces a long prison sentence based only on illegal wiretaps, said that the decision of the Constitutional Court is illegitimate. He said that the head of the court, judge Dobrila Kacarska, should have recused herself. Kacarska holds this position after dutifully following orders from the SDSM party to sentence opposition officials based on the wiretaps, which eventually led to her promotion.

Kacarska is biased. She accepted the use of illegal wiretaps as evidence and rendered verdicts based on them. Her career as Constitutional Court judge is the result of her sentences and she directly gained from his practice. If she had an ounce of dignity, she would have recused herself, Ilievski said. He added that the illegally made wiretaps are the only evidence against his wife, in the trial where she was alleged to have ordered the purchase of an armored Mercedes for the use of the ministry. The funds for the vehicle were not abused, and the Mercedes was bought and remains in use, but still the court used this purchase to go after Jankuloska and then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Jankuloska has served almost three years in prison and remains separated from her infant child.