The vice-president of VMRO-DPMNE, Aleksandar Nikolovski, in the framework of the Council of Europe where a commission for legal issues and human rights is held, says that one of the main topics is the abuse of wiretapping systems as well as illegal physical surveillance.

There is talk of the abuse of wiretapping in order to illegally monitor political activists, opposition leaders, journalists, NGO activists and all those who the authorities consider a threat to their totalitarian rule, says Nikoloski.

He, according to VMRO-DPMNE’s press release, emphasized at the session that this kind of abuse also exists in Macedonia by the SDSM government, adding that for a long period of time, the high management of VMRO-DPMNE has been under physical surveillance as well as the monitoring of communications.

What I mentioned during the session is that this kind of abuse also exists in Macedonia. For a long period of time, the leadership of VMRO-DPMNE has been under physical surveillance and also under the monitoring of communications. We have alerted the public about this several times, but no appropriate steps have been taken, he added.

Nikoloski believes that the wiretapping must stop and the government, instead of abusing the secret services to put the opposition in a subordinate position, should direct and focus on democratic governance.

At my request, the situation with the abuse of monitoring in Macedonia will be included in the report that should be adopted within the January session of the Council of Europe. The report foresees clear measures and steps that should be taken by member states in the Council of Europe, in order to stop illegal wiretapping. Punitive measures are also foreseen if the countries do not implement these steps, he added.