The Skopje court refused the 10.8 million EUR bail offer from former state security chief Saso Mijalkov, who asked to be released from detention until his 12 years prison sentence becomes effective.
The prosecution agreed with the defense and told the court that they agree with the bail offer. But given Mijalkov’s flight attempt in February, the court concluded that he remains a flight risk and denied the offer.
Mijalkov is sentenced to 12 years in prison over the 2015 wiretapping scandal which Zoran Zaev and his SDSM party used to cause a political crisis and grab power in Macedonia. While once demonized by Zaev as the root of all evil in Macedonia, Mijalkov built a working relationship with his regime, and helped Zaev get the necessary votes for the imposed name change. He is also helping Zaev by trying to create divisions in the VMRO-DPMNE party, which is why his escape attempt was such a political liability for Zaev.
Mijalkov initially offered seven million EUR as guarantee that he won’t flee if he is released until the sentence is effective, and then upped the offer to 10.87 million.
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