Owner of the demolished cafe claims he had a permit, as the demolition raises issues of abuse of central Government authority

Mevludin Aliti, the owner of the Fontana cafe in the Mavrovka shopping mall, who was building unlawfully at the site of his old terrace that burnt down in a mysterious fire, claims that he had a permit to build. He spoke to the press gathered to witness the demolition of his partially build construction. Aliti said that already paid 4.7 million denars (77,000 EUR) to the city of Skopje for legalization of his cafe and that he submitted a plan for construction to the municipality of Cair.

According to the law, I respected the procedure and began construction. I have the right to rebuild the cafe that was legalized before the fire, I was not planning to add a second floor, this what you see was going to be the roof, Aliti said.
Skopje Mayor Petre Silegov insisted that Aliti has not paid for legalization of the cafe and said that the demolition should be a warning to all others.

The open terrace had light construction of glass and metal, which was completely destroyed in a powerful fire earlier this year. Over a year ago the cafe was also the target of an RPG attack. Work was stopped once Aliti laid the foundation and built the first floor, amid public outcry that an building without a permit can be erected just across the main Skopje courthouse. The Zaev Government jumped on the opportunity to demolish Aliti’s build in a show of force and in line with his promise that in his second term he will be serious about the rule of law – after the dismal failures in this regard in the first term. One of the major politically motivated trials of Zaev’s first term was to prosecute former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski for allegedly ordering local authorities to demolish the residential highrise of a controversial businessman. Zaev’s public order to demolish Aliti’s cafe, and the use of a demolition crew sent by a Government managed public company – not the usual municipal crews – raised comments that Zaev may soon face a much more substantiated charge of abuse of office than the one he wanted Gruevski prosecuted for.