Skopje, 6 January 2024 (MIA) — A judge at the Skopje Criminal Court has ordered precautionary measures against the four persons who were interrogated by the police after the attack on M-NAV staff on Thursday. One of the suspects is Bekim Neziri, a former government minister, current advisor to a M-NAV executive director, and member of DUI.

 

 

According to the Criminal Court in a press release, the four people are suspected of endangering air traffic safety under Article 303 Paragraph 2 in connection with Article 22 of the Criminal Code.

 

In accordance with Article 146 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, the release says, the suspects are prohibited from leaving their place of residence, have to appear in court when summoned, will have their passports seized, and cannot communicate with the attacked party or between themselves.

 

 

Earlier, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested detention for the four suspects.

 

According to the PPO in a press release, they were suspected of threatening the security of the Skopje International Airport on Jan. 4, when they broke into the premises with the intention of committing an act of violence against a person and obstructed air traffic services.

 

"With their actions, they endangered international air traffic safety at a time when 28 flights were taking place under the control of M-NAV in the country's airspace," the release noted.

 

 

"They are suspected of having committed a crime punishable by at least five years in prison," it said.

 

Noting that the suspects posed a risk of fleeing the country, influencing the procedure, or repeating the crime, the PPO said it had requested from the Skopje's Criminal Court to order detention of the suspects who are in custody.

 

 

The search for the other four continues.

 

According to a police report released by the Ministry of Interior on Thursday, an employee identified by the initials B.N., together with several unindentified persons, had physically attacked P.B., E.K. and B.R., also employees of M-NAV, at their place of work.

 

 

The attack happened after the Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers leader Aleksandar Tasevski's press conference earlier in the day.

 

Tasevski had said that twenty to thirty air traffic controllers and their assistants working for M-NAV would start resigning from their management positions in response to the latest job announcement results and to express their support for the union as well as their disapproval of the management board.

 

 

Late Thursday evening, the government said that at its Jan. 9 session it would discuss ways to resolve the situation in M-NAV, including the dismissal all managers and management board members.

 

Tasevski then said air traffic controllers would go on a general strike on Jan. 10 if M-NAV directors did not resign or if the government does not dismiss them as announced.

 

According to Minister of Defense Slavjanka Petrovska later on Friday, the announced dismissal of the M-NAV management is was to send a message that air traffic safety must never be compromised.

 

"We want to send a message that passengers’ safety and the safety of the Macedonian sky must never, and will never be compromised," Petrovska said.

 

 

"At the same time, we call on all parties and political movements in the country to not use or abuse employment opportunities or the employees of this institution for personal gains.

 

"What is most important for the citizens and the public is that the air traffic in North Macedonia is safe, conducted according to Eurocontrol rules," she said.

 

 

Describing it as "unfortunate event" and a "conflict between two coworkers," M-NAV management board chair and executive director Fahrudin Hamidi told a press conference Friday that a Security Committee convened to look into the attack on staff at the national air navigation service provider M-NAV, and that in the interest of the investigation, he was not going to comment on the incident further. He also said he did not plan on resigning as he had achieved many positive results in his executive post.

 

"We are people, managers, we manage according to certified procedures," Hamidi said. "An unfortunate event happened and it should not have happened, but it was a conflict between two coworkers who have known each other for 20 years and went to school together," he said in response to a reporter's question about how the incident was allowed to happen.

 

Asked if he had demanded responsibility for the incident, Hamidi said the authorities had already launched an investigation. "Because of the fact that the higher authorities are already dealing with that matter, in the interest of the investigation — there are cameras, there are many things that are inside — let the investigation take its course," he said.

 

He also said that he absolutely guaranteed the safety of Macedonian skies during the conflict. "It was personal," he said. "There are arguments in every organization. The persons are M-NAV employees."

 

"There are cameras to determine what happened," Hamidi reiterated.

 

At the press conference, he also alleged that the union leader Tasevski, in contesting the last job competition results and blaming the management board for unprofessional and unnecessary hiring, was acting from his personal motives and interests. "He does not let us do our job. The company's reputation has been damaged over false slander," Hamidi said.

 

"Unfortunately, these are lucrative personal interests and shame on him," he added. He said Tasevski had been drawing public attention to nepotism and partisan employment when "he is a nepotism himself, his father was a department head, then he was hired as well."

 

"And his brother, too, works as a controller," Hamidi said.

 

According to the M-NAV executive, the recent job competition results and employments the union was disputing were legitimate and the company was open to being audited from the Financial Police Office, the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, and other institutions.

 

 

Civil Aviation Agency director general Tomislav Tuntev, when asked to comment on the consequences of the Thursday incident, said air traffic controllers were experienced professionals and experts very well aware of their responsibilities and duty to maintain safe skies.

 

In light of the recent developments, he said, Civil Aviation Agency inspectors were conducting an emergency audit to establish whether any safety and security systems were compromised.

 

After the audit was complete, Tuntev said, necessary measures would be taken and individual responsibility established.

 

Meanwhile, President Stevo Pendarovski strongly condemned the violent attack on M-NAV staff.

 

 

According to a press release from the President's Office, Pendarovski supports the initiative of the government to dismiss M-NAV management directly responsible for the situation and whose work "is of essential importance for air traffic safety."

 

"The Interior Ministry also has the full support of President Pendarovski in solving the M-NAV incident as soon as possible, given that it happened in a facility that is part of the country's critical infrastructure," the release says, adding that the charges should take into account the potential threat to international air traffic security.

 

President Pendarovski also noted that "no one's personal or political interest can be above the legal order and the uninterrupted work of institutions." mr/