Criminal law professor Gordan Kalajdziev, who was one of the Colored revolution activists rumored to be in the running for the role of Special Prosecutor, insisted that Zoran Zaev can’t appointed the next Special Prosecutor by himself, after Katica Janeva’s resignation and disgrace.
Zaev was quick to nominate another loyalist, Vilma Ruskoska, to the position vacated by Janeva, which for the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party is also a non-starter.

The Prime Minsiter can’t decide who will run this new institution and what her fate should be. We need a broader consensus. The Government is the last institution which should decide. He initially proposed to renew Katica Janeva’s mandate with a law, and now he wants the entire unit to be handed over to Vilma Ruskoska, with a political decision. The Special Prosecutor’s Office was supposed to be an independent institution which will fight political leaders, but if the politicians can bury it overnight that means it is not built well. The goal is that this institution should arrest Government officials, not the other way around, Kalajdziev said.

According to the professor, Janeva’s announced resignation means that the entire SPO unit is dismissed, as all other prosecutors were just representatives of the chief Special Prosecutor. He condemned the decision by most SPO prosecutors to denounce Janeva the day after her resignation and the arrest of her alleged associate Boki 13, and to request to continue operating without her. Kalajdziev told them they should’ve all submitted their resignations with Janeva.

The unit insists that the alleged racketeering of businessman Jordan Orce Kamcev was a one-off and that only Janeva should shoulder the blame for any abuse of office, while all the other clearly politically driven cases, which were used to open the way for Zoran Zaev’s power grab, were legitimate.

Zaev needs 81 votes in Parliament to amend the law on state prosecutors, make the SPO permanent and appoint Ruskoska to Janeva’s place, which is expected to be a tall order for him, especially given the direct links between Janeva’s scandal and top SDSM party officials.