The Skopje court handed guilty sentences and prison terms to four former VMRO-DPMNE and Government officials, over the 2017 incident in the Parliament. In a highly politicized trial, former Speaker Trajko Veljanoski was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, former ministers Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristoski to six years and three months, and the former head of the UBK security service Vladimir Atanasovski – to six years. The charge, proposed by one of the most loyal prosecutors of the Zaev regime – Vilma Ruskoska – was terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security, and the sentence was reached by judge Ilija Trpkov.

This is the second trial over the same incident, which was provoked by the now ruling SDSM party, when it staged an irregular vote for a new Speaker of the Parliament, while thousands of protesters were gathered in front of the building on April 27th 2017. The news of the vote, that was about to lead to the creation of a Government eager to adopt Albanian nationalist demands and to rename Macedonia and redefine the Macedonian national identity provoked the protesters to enter the building, and in the ensuing chaos, a number of members of Parliament weree kicked and punched (one of them was severely beaten) – until the police restored control.

Zaev used the incident to claim legitimacy and was supported in this by foreign diplomats. The first trial was used to pressure three VMRO-DPMNE members of Parliament, who faced prison terms (again for terrorism) to votee in favor of the name change.

The prosecution now demands detention for all four defendants. They were charged with organizing the protests – although the prosecution did not provide evidence for this, other than the testimony of one security detail member who reached a plea deal and claimed to have been present in the VMRO offices on the day of the incident. Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and former security service official Nikola Boskovski were also charged, but they received asylum in Hungary and Greece, respectively.