A court in Skopje continued the trial of former security chief Saso Mijalkov, in the case Target – Fort, initiated by the disgraced Special Prosecutor’s Office.

The SPO charged Mijalkov, former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska and other police officials of warrantless wiretapping. The trial was meant to explain how hundreds of thousands of wiretaps ended in the hands of SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev, who used them to spark a political crisis and grab power. Zaev and former UBK chief Zoran Verusevski were charged with using rogue UBK agents to wiretap on their behalf, but the SPO turned the case on its head and accused officials from VMRO-DPMNE, who were also the most frequent targets of wiretapping.

Yesterday the court heard from an Ericsson expert Miomir Maletic, who confirmed that the surveillance systems of the UBK secret service were used to wiretap 4,286 phones between 2008 and 2015 – without a proper warrant. In 1,541 additional cases there was a court warrant but surveillance continued after it expired or began before it was given. A total of 20,000 people were caught speaking on the recordings.

Mijalkov has since been able to evade most of the cases initiated by the Zaev regime against him, and even has an apparent political pact with him, using his remaining influence in VMRO-DPMNE to create factions and weaken the opposition as Zaev attempts to form his second Government.