Skopje, 21 August 2026 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE and Hristijan Mickoski should apologize to the families of the victims for playing with their feelings and emotions for five years, and to the citizens for spreading fake news and polluting public space with falsehoods for five years, said SDSM leader Venko Filipche on Friday regarding the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption decision to drop its probe into the public procurement of 19 modular hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I deeply regret the lives that were lost, that people died, and I sympathize with their families, and that will always be the case. The prosecution was clear: there is no abuse of official duty, there is no damage to the budget, and that reflects my entire work, both in politics and as a doctor, regarding all the posts I have held – uncorrupt, always in the interest of the citizens, without any harm to anyone. However, Mickoski and his organized crime group at every press conference for five years have been calling me a murderer and comparing me to Doctor Mengele, while I save lives and put the health of the citizens first. They haven’t stopped. They didn’t stop yesterday either. They continued after the prosecution’s decision and held a press conference yet again today,” Filipche said.

The SDSM leader recalled that “as a moral and human act” he resigned as health minister following the fire in the Tetovo modular hospital.

He said the Prime Minister’s decision that the case could always be reopened is “just a threat”.

“That is his way of behaving and I understand it, because when a person has no results in what they do, when they are completely incapable of managing the problems in the country, all that is left for them is to threaten – with courts, with prosecutor’s offices... I am not afraid of anything. What the prosecution said yesterday is the truth. My entire career has been like that – responsible, in the interest of the citizens, without causing even the slightest harm to the citizens’ budget,” Filipche stressed. 

Photo: MIA