Macedonia Shootout Suspects Deny Terrorism Charges

All 29 men accused of being part of or helping the armed group that clashed with police in ethnically-mixed Kumanovo in May this year told the Skopje court on Monday that they were not terrorists.

The ethnic Albanian suspects denied the charges and said the bloody two-day shootout was a result of them defending themselves from the police.

Their lawyers also complained that their clients were interrogated by the police inhumanely, and that officers had beaten them for several days without allowing them any medical assistance.

Naser Raufi, one of the defendants' lawyers, said that he has "not seen any evidence for the crime" with which his clients are charged.

Special police maintained a high-profile presence around the court complex and in the city centre during the open hearing.

The prosecution insists that the group was well armed and was put under intensive surveillance before the police's attempt to arrest the men turned into a bloodbath.

The court will decide whether to accept the terrorism charges and proceed with a trial by next Monday.

The two-day-long shootout in ethnically-mixed Kumanovo from May 9-10 left 22 people dead, including eight police officers. The police said they were trying to detain a group of well-armed 'terrorists' who had been planning attacks in Macedonia.

The shootout came against a backdrop of a deep political crisis in Macedonia revolving around opposition claims that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski ordered the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people. Some critics accused the authorities of plotting the violence to distract attention from the ongoing crisis.

Days after the carnage, Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska and secret police Chief Saso Mijalkov resigned,...