The trial of judge Vladimir Pancevski began at the Veles court today. Pancevski was targeted by the Zaev regime for his refusal to allow that illegal wiretaps are used as evidence in court, while he was head of the Skopje court where Zaev’s prosecutors initiated trials against a number of VMRO-DPMNE party officials.

As part of the process to remove the disobedient judge, Pancevski was charged with allegedly appointing judges to individual cases, instead of using the random electronic allocation system. The Veles court ordered him detained and he turned himself in on July 15.

Meanwhile, Zaev pushed a law through Parliament that forbids the use of illegally obtained wiretaps as grounds for opening new criminal cases. The law applies only to future cases – the VMRO officials who are already charged will remain on trial, but Zaev and his lieutenants, who face new wiretaps pointing to their criminal conduct almost every day, will be exempt from scrutiny.