VMRO-DPMNE condemned the decision of the Skopje Appeals Court to release former security chief Saso Mijalkov from detention. Mijalkov, who was a top VMRO official before siding with Zoran Zaev during the imposed name change process, is being released from detention on a bail of 11 million EUR, after he was sentenced for widespread wiretapping.

At a time when the country ranks 111th in fighting corruption and is the most corrupt country in Europe, when the ruling party prepares lists of pardons and uses its installations in the judiciary to suppress investigation into all of its scandals, this decision today is another cheap theater organized by SDSM and Justice Minister Bojan Maricic. SDSM is led by criminals and has an unbreakable link to organized crime, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.

Mijalkov actively tried to undermine the current VMRO leadership and party leader Hristijan Mickoski, in apparent coordination with Zaev. He is being released from detention even after he tried to avoid arrest in February and apparently fled the country to Serbia for a few days before returning to be detained.