Spiro Topaloski, a man from Ohrid who claimed that the powerful local DUI party boss Nefi Useini pistol whipped him and pulled a gun on his 14 year old son, changed his statement. He now claims that he’s good friends with Useini and that he just imagined seeing a gun aimed at his son.

After years of incidents and frivolous actions during which Useini was untouchable by local or national authorities, and even the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev acknowledged that the Albanian Muslim community in Ohrid has crucial votes that make Useini untouchable, the court finally ordered that Useini is detaiend over this latest incident. Useini and his brother were sought by the police yesterday, but “could not be found”. But with Topaloski’s changed statement, it’s likely that the DUI party boss will evade sanction again.

I, Spiro Topaloski, in good health, want to deny the reports in the media these days which are out of context and misrepresent what happened in the critical day. There was a unkind event and argument, probably driven by political reasons from structures unknown to me, to discredit my name and to disrupt our friendship. While Nefi and I were talking, I was hit from the back and due to the stress, and the fact that my son was there with me, I got the wrong impression. If I’m honest, I never saw a gun but in the panic got the impression that there is a gun at the scene, but there wasn’t, Topaloski now claims.

Previously, he claimed that Useini pulled a gun on his son and then, aided by his brother and several men, pistol whipped him im front of his boy. Topaloski had a water dispute in a lakeside area where oligarch Zore Temelkovski has his villa. Temelkovski acknowledged that he is good friends with Useini and local media outlets reported that Temelkovski sicced Useini on Topaloski.