The March for justice, organized by the ruling SDSM party on Monday evening, was an unheard case of a Government protesting itself, and a brutal attempt to threaten the judiciary, said VMRO-DPMNE member of Parliament Ilija Dimovski.

The march was a dud, with mere hundreds of SDSM supporters joining Zoran Zaev, and many leading protests from his 2015/16 Colored Revolution openly stating their disappointment and withdrawing their support. But Zaev used the march to threaten the judges and prosecutors and demand that they double down on his campaign to persecute opposition officilas. The march was held a day after SDSM rammed a law through Parliament that would increase Zaev’s control over the judiciary, which has been doing Zaev’s bidding in full since at least 2017.

It sounds crazy to hear a Government protesting against itself. What was the point of the protest we saw? Will this be their entire campaign? It’s like the thief shouting “catch the thief”. Zaev’s Government caused a complete meltdown of the rule of law. The Special Prosecutor’s Office collapsed. The Public Prosecutor’s Office is under full partisan control. The courts are humiliated, turned into SDSM party branches, following the party’s orders in both political trials but also a number of huge corporate cases. At least 13 members of Parliament (including three each from DUI and SDSM) voted for the PPO law under direct pressure of overt or covert, secret charges filed against them or people close to them, Dimovski said.

He pointed to the major industrial cases such as the TE-TO gas plant, the FENI smelter, the Empire money laundering case and the Postal Bank trial as judicial scandals which have drawn the attention of the diplomats in Macedonia. “These were used to extort money from businessmen or conduct suspicious sales of companies, with the sums amounting to tens or even hundreds of millions of euros. The judiciary was used to enrich the ruling party, and bribe some in the opposition, while those who would not be bribed were destroyed with judicial and media witch hunts”, Dimovski added. He pointed to the level of control SDSM already has over the judiciary, even before the latest law was pushed through Parliament in a scandalous “do-over” vote.

The Public Prosecutor is elected by the Government where SDSM has the majority, along with its blackmailed coalition partners. The Special Prosecutor’s Office was formed on SDSM request, with Katica Janeva the tip of their spear. The Judicial Council is under direct SDSM control. Court Presidents are elected by this Council. SDSM, Talat Xhaferi and the 80 vote majority run the Parliament and amend any law they want. Who runs this system? Katica Janeva and Boki 13 are just one part of this story, but an instructive one – it tells all the other cogs in the machine that they will be cast aside as their superiors try to save themselves. This situation can’t be resolved with a march or a date to open accession talks or any law they pass, Dimovski said.