North Macedonia Jails Ex-Speaker Over Storming of Parliament

The Criminal Court in Skopje on Monday in a first instance verdict sentenced former speaker of parliament Trajko Veljanoski to six years and six months in jail and former transport and former labour ministers, Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristovski, to six years and three months in jail each.

The former head of the secret police, Vladimir Atanasovski, was jailed for six years .

Veljanoski and the others, all members of the former ruling VMRO DPMNE party, were found guilty of "terrorist endangerment of constitutional order", as organisers of the April 27 2017 storming of parliament in which about 100 people were injured.

The building was attac ked in a last-ditch attempt to stop the new majority from electing a new speaker and so paving the way for a new government not led by VMRO DPMNE.

The court, as expected, did not issue verdicts for the former prime minister and VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, or for former secret police employee Nikola Boskoski.

They have been out of reach of the justice system for years. Gruevski obtained asylum in his ally Viktor Orban's Hungary. The second fugitive is believed to be hiding in neighbouring Greece.

Although Gruevski was the first accused in the case, and Boskoski is also accused of participating in the organisation of the violent attack, their trial has been stopped until they show up or are arrested and extradited.

The court concluded that the defendants in 2017 had "prepared and implemented a plan with acts of violence to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to the newly formed parliamentary majority".

In April 2017, amid a tense political standoff, members of and sympathizers with VMRO DPMNE stormed the parliament in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the new...