Macedonia PM Accused of Large-Scale Wire-Tapping

Top politicians, opposition leaders, NGO activists, journalists, businessmen, top academics, religious leaders and members of the judiciary have been subjected to widespread surveillance ordered by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and secret police chief Saso Mijalkov, the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, claimed on Monday.

"All socially important people except Nikola Gruevski and Saso Mijalkov have been eavesdropped upon. This makes it clear who did this. We have tons of material to prove this. This is sad news for Macedonia," SDSM leader Zoran Zaev told a press conference.

According to Zaev, the Prime Minister has been receiving daily reports on his political opponents prepared by the secret services.

Zaev says he has been targeted for at least five years, although legally, the longest period that a person can be eavesdropped upon with a judge's consent is 14 months. The opposition played audio materials which is said were Zaev's conversations with party colleagues as well as one private call with his young daughter.

Even Gruevski's closest political associates have not been spared, the opposition alleged. A private phone conversation between what it said was Police Minister Gordana Jankuloska and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski was aired at the press conference. The conversation appears to suggest that the VMRO DPMNE authorities are in charge of state employment. In the rest of the conversation, the two insult their party associates and opposition leaders.

The opposition also played recordings that they said was from tapped conversations involving the head of the junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, Ali Ahmeti, and the ethnic Albanian opposition leader, Menduh Thaci, and others...