Skopje, 19 September 2023 (MIA) — Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani has denied allegations by former member of DUI's 'Fire Group' faction and now leader of the newly formed Democratic Movement Izet Mexhiti that Osmani had met with convicted fugitive former prime minister Nikola Gruevski in Budapest.

Mexhiti publicly asked in a Facebook post whether Osmani had met Gruevski "in a private or official visit to Budapest."

Also writing in a Facebook post, Osmani said: "First they said 'Ali Ahmeti met with him,' then they said, 'No, Artan Grubi met with him,' and now I have allegedly met with him! Maybe they will guess on their fourth try!"

Previously, ten days ago, Mexhiti asked via Facebook if it was true that Gruevski would have his passport returned.

Former prime minister and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev also denied allegations that he had secretly met with Gruevski regarding the Criminal Code changes.

Zaev's statement followed after Democratic Union for Integration leader Ali Ahmeti said in an interview with TV 21 that there had been several secret meetings over the past few years about changing the Criminal Code to reduce prison sentences for abuse of office.

"It is not true that I had secret meetings with Ahmeti and Gruevski to negotiate changing the Criminal Code. Ahmeti's statement is not true," Zaev told TV 24.

The convicted fugitive former PM and former leader of VMRO-DPMNE also denied the allegations of secret meetings and his having influence on the current VMRO-DPMNE leadership.

"After my departure from Macedonia, the new leadership completely excommunicated me and I have no contact or information on their activities and decisions, except from the media," Gruevski wrote on Facebook.

Allegations of meetings with Gruevski intensified after Ahmeti's interview with "360 Degrees" was broadcast on Monday. Asked about the newly changed Criminal Code and what if Gruevski did not help Parliament achieve the two-thirds majority required for the constitutional amendments to pass, Ahmeti told the TV show that he did not think the motivation for the Criminal Code changes was to rehabilitate any criminals.

"The main reason is to get closer to EU standards. This law we changed was one of the laws of the former Yugoslavia," Ahmeti said.

Commenting on the claims of the Albanian opposition that the Criminal Code had been changed so Gruevski could return, Ahmeti said those were political views and unrelated to reforms in the judiciary.

Ahmeti was also asked "why he had allowed one of his political offspring, Izet Mexhiti, to leave DUI." In response, Ahmeti said if DUI were the criminalized party Mexhiti said it was, he should have spoken more openly with Ahmeti.

"Now talking about Mexhiti feels like I'm spitting up in the air. What happens then is my spit lands on my face. Izet Mexhiti was a top DUI official for 20 years. Everything Mexhiti says is similar to what I said. So if I spit up in the air, my spit will land on my face. If Izet Mexhiti badmouths his own house, it's like having his own spit land on his face. If DUI had been criminalized, since he was a DUI member for 20 years, he should have spoken up at our meetings and openly talked to me against crime or injustice or any bad things happening in DUI," Ahmeti said. mr/