The decision of the Skopje Appeals Court to release former state security chief Saso Mijalkov from detention on a huge bail (11 million EUR), even though quickly replaced by an order from a lower court to keep him in prison, caused outrage in the public.
The decision was denounced by officials of the Zaev Government, even though Zaev has sided with Mijalkov over the past several years and openly used him in an attempt to cause divisions in the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, where Mijalkov was long a member. Justice Minister Bojan Maricic called out the two judges who made the decision, Gjoko Ristov and Enver Bexheti, by name, and asked them to explain it to the public.

VMRO-DPMNE strongly condemned the decision of the Skopje Appeals Court, pointing to his ties with SDSM.

At a time when the country ranks 111th in fighting corruption and is the most corrupt country in Europe, when the ruling party prepares lists of pardons and uses its installations in the judiciary to suppress investigation into all of its scandals, this decision today is another cheap theater organized by SDSM and Justice Minister Bojan Maricic. SDSM is led by criminals and has an unbreakable link to organized crime, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.

Mijalkov actively tried to undermine the current VMRO leadership and party leader Hristijan Mickoski, in apparent coordination with Zaev. He sought release from detention even after he tried to avoid arrest in February and apparently fled the country to Serbia for a few days before returning to be detained.