Macedonia Postpones 'Terrorist Murders' Appeal Hearing

Amid a heavy police presence in a Skopje courtroom full of friends and relatives of the six alleged ethnic Albanian Muslim extremists who were sentenced to life in prison for terrorism over the killings, judge Liljana Shopova postponed the public hearing until September 11, citing "unfulfilled legal conditions".

Shopova argued that two of the defendants, Haki Aziri and Agim Ismailovic, who are serving their sentences in a jail near Skopje, were not brought in for the hearing.

But Zivko Pejkovski, the head of Skopje's Idrizovo prison, where the two men are being held, said that the penal institution was not to blame.

"We have not received any order from the Court of Appeals to bring the convicts. We cannot bring them to the court on our own without a request," Pejkovski told Fokus.

The hearing was expected to see a twist in the high-profile case that heightened ethnic tensions in the country.

Speculation suggested that the defence might submit new evidence from transcripts of wiretapped conversations between officials about the case - part of a large cache of surveillance recordings that the Macedonian opposition has been releasing in its bid to oust the government.

The recordings cast doubt on the convictions, according to the head of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev. But Zaev has not published the transcripts, saying that he fears they might spark a violent reaction from the country's large Albanian community.

Relatives, friends and lawyers for the six men expressed doubt about court officials' explanation for the postponement of Thursday's hearing.

"This is an unusually long postponement because there is time [for new session] this month," said defence lawyer Naser Raufi.

He insisted that his...