Kiril Bozinovski

A key defendant in the trial of those involved in last year's attack on the Macedonian parliament has claimed the ruling party organised the whole event from the eighth floor of its Skopje headquarters.

The defendant, Aleksandar Vasilevski "Ninja" said the entire event was prepared and coordinated by then high-ranking officials in the then ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

Macedonian authorities detained the country's former transport minister, Mile Janakieski, and the former government secretary general, Kiril Bozinovski, on Wednesday after their former boss, ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski, fled the country to avoid a jail sentence.

The Skopje Criminal Court ordered 30 days of detention for both of them.

Former Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski and other former ministers from his government who have been charged with masterminding election fraud in 2013 will remain free but with their passports seized as a precautionary measure, the country's Appeals Court has ruled.

Former Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski and several other former ministers from his former ruling VMRO DPMNE party told Friday's hearing in the Appeals Court that they have no intention of fleeing and reject the charges of election rigging pressed by the country's Special Prosecution, SJO.

Restaurant bills and invoices that some Macedonian ministries provided to BIRN since the change of government in May show that some former ministers and top officials spared nothing when it came to buying food and drinks at taxpayers' expense.

Within the next few days, Macedonia's Court of Appeals will review the decisions made by Skopje's Criminal Court not to allow the detention of Gruevski and some of his associates.

The Special Prosecution, SJO said on Tuesday it will start filing appeals against the Criminal Court's decisions on Wednesday.

The Special Prosecution, SJO on Thursday announced charges in 17 cases, demanding the arrest of former premier Nikola Gruevski, former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, former Transport Minister Mile Janakieski, former government secretary-general Kiril Bozinovski and Gruevski's former cabinet chief Martin Protugjer.

Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO announced on Tuesday that it has added 17 new people to its list of suspects in the electoral fraud case, including more former state officials.

It has also widened the range of suspected criminal offences after reviewing wiretapped recordings of officials, chief special prosecutor Katica Janeva told a press conference in Skopje.

Heavy police forces were deployed in the centre of Skopje on Tuesday amid fears that violence might break out between the two rival protests.

The first, which began in front of the government building and was due to end in front of the Constitutional Court, was organized by civic organizations and supported by the main opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM.

Several hundred Macedonian anti-government protesters on Wednesday pelted the Constitutional Court building in Skopje with eggs after judges voted to discuss annulling a provision in the law that bars the President from granting pardons.

They say it will open the way for the President to pardon a number of former senior government officials suspected of organising election fraud.