On Monday, the Criminal Court located in Skopje made the decision to grant parole to Sasho Mijalkov, the former director of the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK), on December 25. His release date is set for April 25, 2025.

The Criminal Court’s ruling follows the Appellate Court in Skopje’s upholding of Mijalkov’s appeal and subsequent return of his case to the Criminal Court for further consideration of Mijalkov’s parole request.

Following the Criminal Court’s rejection of the Struga jail director’s proposal for Mijalkov’s conditional release, his attorney filed an appeal.

“After a public meeting and a thorough examination of all the records in the Struga prison, the Criminal Council at the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption acted upon the recommendation of the prison director regarding the parole of convicted S.M.decided to uphold the prison director’s proposal in accordance with the instructions from the Appellate Court in Skopje,” the Criminal Court stated in a press release, noting that the decision is appealable at the Appellate Court.

Mijalkov entered a guilty plea and was given a three-year prison sentence in the “Empire” case. He is currently serving his sentence in Struga.