Mickoski on Grubi: Makes no sense for me to have made any deals with people who want to end my political career
Skopje, 26 February 2026 (MIA) — Answering to lawmakers during a parliamentary session earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi had been captured by the police and his government had nothing to do with it.
"The fugitive was apprehended by the law enforcement authorities. Anything that follows is to be decided by other authorities — the judicial authorities. It has nothing to do with the government," the prime minister said.
He said now that former chief state prosecutor Ljupcho Kocevski was "no longer there," some people were "worried about how all this will end" as they had lost their "last shield."
"Now a new independent prosecutor will come," Mickoski said, "whom we expect will protect justice. The people whose conscience is now working, they are on edge, they have trouble sleeping, they are irritable. You can tell from their press conferences. The anxiety is taking its toll. Now they see the end is near. And seeing the end is near, they are trying to jump like a cat to claw your eyes out. But they forget we are lions and people like them will be held accountable," Mickoski said in response to MP Ljupcho Prendzhov's question about Grubi's detention and house arrest.
The prime minister said "this is just the beginning of some individuals' agony."
"Everyone should know this. I absolutely understand the citizens who are revolted. I absolutely support their revolt, their emotions. I cannot be, I must not and I should not be emotional — I don't have the right to be. But the process itself will provide the answer," Mickoski said.
He said the rumors linking him to Grubi's arrest made no sense.
"The public has been righteously outraged lately and I absolutely understand all the comments I read on social networks," Mickoski said, criticizing Grubi's past behavior, including verbal attacks toward him personally.
"Yet now, by some strange logic, I, the prime minister, have gone and made a deal with these people who want to see the end of my political career, and some of them, the end of me as a person. This makes no sense," Mickoski said. mr/
