SDSM Vice President Radmila Sekerinska falsely claimed that Republika apologized to her for our reporting. During her debate with VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski, Sekerinska was pressed for her own role in the major corruption scandals that are shaking the SDSM led Government. She responded by claiming that media outlets who reported on her collusion, like Republika, have apologized for their reporting.

This is false. Republika has reported extensively on the Racket scandal, and the subsequent trial in which a close relative of Sekerinska is involved. We also carried an Infomax report that Sekerinska was named in the testimony by businessman Jordan Orce Kamcev, who was the main target of extortion. Sekerinska demanded that Republika publishes her response, which we did. This common media practice does not mean an apology for the report or denies its veracity. There has been a long list of insincere statements sent by SDSM officials to Republika, as response to reports we’ve carried, and we have published them due to the obligation to respect the right to respond. But the mere publication does not mean the partisan statement is true.

Republika is obviously a thorn in Sekerinska’s side, that she attacks us with threats and tries to silence us. Her party staged a protest in front of our office, then falsely claimed that the spot was chosen by accident. We will not be silenced and we will remain a news outlet that will critically report on the work of the Government, Republika responded.

During the Racket trial, Sekerinska was identified as one of the SDSM officials who has most frequently met with the key defendant Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13, while also maintaining close links with his racketeering target Kamcev.

As Boki 13 was charged in a follow-up racketeering case, it was revealed that Sekerinska’s sister in law Marija Jankovska is a high level official of a bogus humanitarian organization set up by Boki 13. This organization extorted at least a million EUR from two construction companies promising them it will open great investment opportunities using its links to the ruling SDSM party to receive state subsidies and publicly owned land. Jankovska was not charged in the case, which prompted an angry response from Frosina Remenski, a once SDSM deputy leader like Sekerinska, and Deputy Parliament Speaker, who objected why she is being charged while Sekerinska’s role is being ignored.

She was also named as one of the five key individuals in the racketeering scandal by journalist Branko Geroski, who along with Infomax, did much of the initial reporting in the affair. While SDSM leader Zoran Zaev is widely considered to be the key person in the scandal, the wealth of reports linking Sekerinska to the scandal only make the lack of any legal action toward her more suspect.