Gjoko Kotevski, the Skopje prison warden who was told to resign after the savage beating of high ranking opposition officials Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristovski last week, will remain in his post until after the presidential elections, the Zoran Zaev Government informed today.

According to the Government’s press service, the law prevents it to accept Kotevski’s resignation so close to the elections date. Zaev called on Kotevski to resign after a group of Albanian terrorists, imprisoned over their role in the May 2015 bloody attack on Kumanovo, and after a few days he complied, but will not remain as warden for at least two more months. Previously, another political prisoner, Jane Cento, was attacked in the same prison, this time by prison guards.

VMRO-DPMNE sees the actions of the prison management and its failure to guarantee the safety of the leading political prisoners, as a form of torture and extra-judiciary punishment. The Kumanovo terror group was sending out open threats toward VMRO officials all through the weekend, leaving the impression they are untouchable in the Skopje prison and that Kotevski is enabling them and allowing them to essentially run the facility.