The SDSM party confirmed that the photographs of Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce, filmed at a beach in Greece with Zoran Zaev’s brother Vice Zaev, are authentic, but insists that they are older pictures and predate the catastrophic fire in the Tetovo hospital that killed 15 people.

The public was outraged to see Filipce lounging at the beach together with the business leader of the Zaev family, while the investigation into his culpability in the horrific fire is still on-going. According to SDSM, the opposition is to blame for the release of the pictures, which they insist were made some time ago.