Skopje, 23 January 2025 (MIA) - The Skopje-based Criminal Court upheld the amnesty motion of defendants in the case dubbed 'April 27 Organizers', including former minister of transport and communications Mile Janakieski, former minister of education Spiro Ristovski, former parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski and former secret police chief Vladimir Atanasovski.  

The court issued a decision granting the defendants' request for amnesty and halting the proceedings against the defendants accused of committing the criminal offence of threatening the constitutional order. 

Judge Ilija Trpkov pointed out that the events in the Parliament on April 27, 2017, were not edited, but real events, noting that this is a democratic country and everyone has the right to say what they think, while judges are to persist and withstand in the proceedings.

"Attack on the Parliament is an attack on the state. Personally and as a Council, we still hold the view that the intention of the legislator with the Law on Amnesty was not to grant amnesty to the organizers, but, there is always a but, both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Appellate Court decided that the three defendants here did not act contrary to their authorizations," said Trpkov. 

These defendants here, he said, are the same as the other defendants in this court who were granted amnesty.

"In the end, it will turn out that the defendants in the 'April 27' organized themselves and stormed the Parliament. It is clear to everyone, even to those in the prisons, that this is not possible. It is not possible to break through a police cordon at sports matches, not to mention at the Parliament. But someone asked to be granted amnesty. Personally, I thought that the defendants would see it through and prove that they were not involved, but that is their decision, and it should be respected," Trpkov said. 

Previously, the Prosecutor's Office filed an opinion to the Criminal Court over the application of the Law on Amnesty in the case dubbed 'April 27 Organizers, noting that the law provisions provide for the amnesty for three defendants, whereas the legal mechanism cannot be applied for one defendant, since the amnesty exceptions in the law apply.

"The defendants ask that the Law on Amnesty is applied in the case, and considering their equal treatment before the law, as was the case with the other suspects and defendants who were granted amnesty based on the same law, this motion cannot be challenged," said the opinion.

Last April, the Appellate Court cancelled the first-instance ruling in the "April 27 Organizers" case and ordered a retrial. According to the verdict, former parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski, former minister of education Spiro Ristovski, former minister of transport and communications Mile Janakieski and former secret police chief Vladimir Atanasovski were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to six-and-a-half years.

Judge Ilija Trpkov is the presiding judge in the trial, while Iskra Hadzhi Vasileva is the prosecutor. 

Photo: MIA archive