Skopje, 29 July 2024 (MIA) - Former economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi, against whom the Ohrid police filed charges for obstruction of justice, reacted in a Facebook post in which he also published the message he has sent to the police commander. 

He says the charges filed against him are political persecution and intimidation. 

"Political persecution, the purpose of your intimidation, it won't work! On May 7, as coordinator of the European Front in the fifth election district, I received information from the European Front's headquarters in Ohrid that on the day of the election silence, the president and the members of the headquarters were checked by the Ohrid police, which is direct intervention in the election process by the Ohrid police," Bekteshi said in his post. 

According to Bekteshi, the purpose of such a move, as he notes, is revenge for the defeat that the citizens have inflicted on the government on May 8. 

Earlier on Monday, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) in a press release also reacted after former economy minister Bekteshi was charged with obstruction of justice. 

DUI called the allegations “baseless, aimed at discrediting the party and its officials.”

"The Democratic Union for Integration condemns the politically framed ‘witch hunt’, directed against our former minister of economy Kreshnik Bekteshi and DUI as a political organization. The baseless allegations for ‘obstruction of justice’ against him are the most recent in a series of baseless accusations and threats aimed to discredit our party and its officials. Last month, we faced numerous death threats sent to our MPs and party officials in addition to the day-to-day false defamation,” said DUI’s reaction.

The Interior Ministry said last week that the Ohrid police filed charges against a Kichevo man, 39, for obstruction of justice, revealing only his initials. Later, some media reported that the man in question is former economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi. 

“On May 7, 2024, the man messaged a police commander in Ohrid police commenting the taking of legal police measures and an investigation in relation to article 149 of the criminal code and article 190 of the electoral code,” the Interior Ministry said in its daily newsletter. 

Photo: MIA archive