Skopje, 13 December 2024 (MIA) - A preliminary investigation is underway into suspicions of a possible crime at the Judicial Council related to the mandate of its former president, Vesna Dameva, who resigned on December 2.

The Interior Ministry told MIA it seized two minutes of proceedings from the Council as part of searches conducted on Thursday.

“Everything that had to be seized has been seized. This is currently a preliminary investigation,” the Ministry told MIA, noting that more information will be published once the preliminary investigation ends.

By order from a public prosecutor at the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje, police officers conducted searches at the Judicial Council on Thursday.

The Prosecutor’s Office said the action isn’t related to the case formed in relation to the US “blacklist”, but instead refers to a notice from the Interior Ministry in which it requested an order to secure minutes of proceedings from the Judicial Council.

On November 28, during a Q&A session of Parliament, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said he was constantly getting reports of alleged wrongdoings at the Judicial Council.

“There is a clan of two people, one of three people, and one is alone. I am receiving documents from whistleblowers over falsified minutes with different dates, different seals, without signatures,” Mickoski said.

On December 2 the President of the Judicial Council, Vesna Dameva, stepped down from her post as President, citing the Government’s lack of interest in ensuring swift and efficient justice, as well as efforts by top government officials to ruin her integrity as the reasons for her resignation.

Following Dameva’s resignation, the Council has been functioning without a President after it chose to delay the procedure for the election of a replacement. 

Photo: MIA Archive