A statement from a former SDSM member of Parliament reignited the debate over a scandalous violation of the rule of law for political purposes. Pavle Bogoevski, who was named by SDSM as one of the Colored Revolution representatives in the new Parliament, but had to resign in disgrace after being recorded by a taxi driver as he was ordering cocaine from his dealer, acknowledged that SDSM gave amnesty to members of Parliament because of political reasons.
The 2015 Colored Revolution insisted that the VMRO-DPMNE Government is too corrupt to be allowed to remain in office, and used wiretaps and the power of the now fully disgraced Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, as well as international pressure, to remove VMRO from office. Numerous VMRO officials were charged, often with ridiculous crimes, but some were found to be useful to the new regime. These included three members of Parliament who were charged with “terrorism” for allegedly opening the doors of the Parliament when protesters barged in during the April 27 2017 incident. The members of Parliament – Ljuben Arnaudov, Krsto Mukoski and Saso Vasilevski were “turned” by SDSM, along with six others who were also elected on the VMRO list, and they voted in favor of the imposed name change in exchange for amnesties, lucrative public procurement contracts, reduced sentences for their friends and family members also caught up in SDSM’s campaign of political persecution against VMRO.
The benefits this country gained with their votes make the decision tolerable. Yes the law on amnesty was adopted because they voted in favor of the name change. I will not go into the procurement contracts they got, Bogoevski acknowledged in a TV debate, speaking about the speecial law that excluded Mukoski, Arnaudov and Vasilevski from most other defendants charged with terrorism over the April 2017 incident, many of whom still languish in jail.
But it’s not just the name change. The group of bribed and blackmailed former VMRO members of Parliament later voted in favour of a scandalous law on public prosecutors, that banned the use of illicit wiretaps as a basis to open future criminal investigations. This means that after dubious and often edited wiretaps were used to imprison many VMRO officials, similar standards will not be applied on the SDSM party and Zoran Zaev and his family, despite the numerous corruption scandals that are erupting around them. And now this so-called Gang of Eight is being used in Zaev’s attempt to provoke divisions in VMRO-DPMNE after an inconclusive election pushed Macedonia into a new political crisis.
Besides the Gang of Eight, SDSM has apparently embraced former security chief Saso Mijalkov, who was the most hated figure of the Colored Revolution, aside for then VMRO leader Nikola Gruevski. Several official close to Mijalkov have joined him and the Gang of Eight in public calls that current VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski resigns from office. Mijalkov faced a series of criminal charges initiated by Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, one of which backfired on her so spectacularly that she is now sentenced to seven years in prison for racketeering. The party says that many of those who join Mijalkov in the attempt to divide the right after the elections are also being blackmailed by various criminal charges.
The latest to join the push is former Mayor of Aerodrom, Ivica Konevski, who was frequently accused of SDSM for taking kick-backs to allow the major construction boom in this part of Skopje, only to become one of the favorites of the SDSM aligned press once he turned against his former party VMRO-DPMNE.
Isn’t it strange that people like Ivica Konevski, who faced so many allegations and scandals, have no problem with the law and have zero charges filed against them. He never criticizes Zoran Zaev or the SDSM appointed Mayor of Aerodrom Zlatko Marin, but is eager to criticize VMRO, said VMRO-DPMNE spokesman Dimitar Arsovski.
The fanning of division in VMRO also helps SDSM distract the public from the on-going damaging testimony in the second Racket trial, where defendant Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13 openly points the finger at Zaev and claims his direct involvement in the major racketeering scandal.
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