The dismissal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Jovo Vangelovski comes shortly after it was revealed that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev was pressuring members of the Judicial Council to fire Vangelovski. It helps Zaev accumulate power in the judiciary even further, given that Vangelovski has acted on a number of occassions to prevent lawless moves by the Zaev regime.

Former Justice Minister Blerim Bexheti stated that Zaev asked him to pressure members of the Judicial Council, an independent, non-partisan body tasked with appointing judges, to remove Vangelovski.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called me on July 17th, and told me that I should help him remove the President of the court by September. I refused Zaev and two weeks later the Anti-Corruption Commission initiated a procedure against me. I believe that this procedure was the result of my refusal to instruct members of the Judicial Council on how to vote, Bexheti said during a recent press conference.

Zaev confirmed the conversation, saying that he indeed discussed Chief Justice Jovo Vangelovski with Bexheti.

Vangelovski would act to mitigate the actions by Zaev’s top ally, Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, even before the major corruption scandal that revealed how Janeva was abusing her office to attack Zaev’s political opponents and to extort money from businessmen.