Police today detained three former Agriculture Ministers, all from the small opposition Socialist Party, which, along with the VMRO-DPMNE party, suffered the brunt of the politically motivated arrests in the past years.

Aco Spasenovski and Mihail Cvetkov were detained, while Ljupco Dimovski, who is member of Parliament and was only recently amnestied over a different politically driven charge, is still sought by the police. Former Deputy Agriculture Minister Kristijan Delev from VMRO-DPMNE, was also detained.

According to the pro-Government Telma TV, which first reported the arrests, the former officials are charged over alleged violations in the distribution of farm subsidies and in renting publicly owned arable land.

Dimovski was charged with “terrorism” in an attempt to get him to vote to rename Macedonia. He refused, but was given amnesty along with the members of Parliament who voted for the name change.