Macedonia Mull Ways to Scrap President's Pardon

Macedonian legal experts say either parliament, the Constitutional Court or President Gjorge Ivanov himself could annul the hotly disputed pardon of top politicians and their associates, which has worsened Macedonia's political crisis.

One option that experts mention is for parliament to call a session to interpret the Law on Pardoning and decide that the President's pardon is null and void because it was based on a no-longer existing article of the law, article 11, which was scrapped in 1993.

"The presidential pardon is based on a dead, annulled provision which has no legal force. Thus, his decision has no legal force and the prosecution and the courts could disregard it," Skopje Law Professor Svetomir Skaric suggested.

The old article 11 of the law allowed the head of state to pardon people on his or her own authority, without first seeking the consent of the Justice ministry and of other institutions.

On April 12, President Gjorge Ivanov pardoned 56 top politicians and their associates, effectively blocking the work of the Special Prosecution which was formed last year to investigate high-level crime. The move sparked massive ongoing protests in the capital and across the country.

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was pardoned of five criminal proceedings while his former Transport Minister, Mile Janakieski, and Interior Minister, Gordana Jankulovska, topped the list in terms of reprieves, with 16 and 11 pardons respectively.

Ivanov also pardoned the opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev from two criminal proceedings with which he was charged last year by the regular Prosecutor's office.

Law Professor Ana Pavlovksa-Daneva meanwhile said the President could withdraw his decision alone by launching an...