Macedonia is neither a dictatorship nor a monarchy. Macedonia must not be ruled by the will of some current and former officials, says the Chief Prosecutor for Organized Crime Vilma Ruskovska following the press briefing organized by Arafat Muaremi, who informed the press that he has filed a criminal complaint against Ruskovska, Ivana Trajceva and Elizabeta Josifovska.

Previously, the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Corruption conducted a search in Arafat Muaremi’s office in the Financial Police, but also in his home, and Ruskovska says that she is ready to announce the results of the search to the public so that the public can determine “ who is a criminal and who is doing his job.”

I, as a prosecutor with more than 34 years of experience, and prosecutor for organized crime since the establishment of the Organized Crime Department of the Prosecutor’s Office in 2004, will not allow a person whose status is being checked to stain my  honor, which I have painstakingly built for many years. I have learned honor, respect and reputation from a young age, from my parents who both fought with the fascists for today’s free and independent Macedonia, said Ruskovska.

She called on the embassies and international organizations with representation in the country to take appropriate steps.

I call on all competent institutions in the country, but also all international institutions and embassies, especially the US Embassy and the EU Office, once and for all to check all the facts and clarify who in this country is fighting crime and who is committing the crime. I am also asking EU Prosecutor Laura Kövesi if she is able to come and check all the cases of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime since I am at the head of the prosecution, with special reference to the cases about Raskovski, Zekiri and this latest one about Muaremi, explains Ruskovska.

This pressure on prosecutors for organized crime is appalling, adds Ruskovska, by a person appointed by the Government, as well as  the interference in case of the prosecution, something that is strictly prohibited according to the Law on Public Prosecution.

Muaremi says to file criminal complaint against prosecutors Ruskovska, Trajcheva, Josifovska