The 18 years long prison sentence handed to former Interior Minister Mitko Cavkov by judge Dobrila Kacarska was announced by Zoran Zaev a day after the 2017 incident in the Parliament.
Bolstered by support from the US State Department and the EU foreign policy chief, Zaev then announced that his party is taking over control of the Government and shouted at Cavkov to “flee the country”.

The first step was made. US and EU see peace and progress in us. Be part of these historic processes, Zaev said, before talling Cavkov to “run away as far as you can”.

Cavkov refused to leave the country, was detained three times since then, and also refused to request amnesty under a law Zaev passed to secure the votes in Parliament he needed to rename and redefine Macedonia.

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski detailed Zaev’s reason for going after Cavkov – these include the corruption investigations which Cavkov led against Zaev, but also his steadfast defense of Macedonia from the Albanian terrorist gang which attacked the country in 2015, at the height of the political crisis which Zaev instigated.