Borjan Jovanovski

Borjan Jovanovski, an editor at NOVA TV, told BIRN that he suspected that an attack on him on Wednesday, when a young man approached him in a Skopje restaurant, shouted "traitor" and spat in his face, was commissioned by a senior official of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev has accused the leadership of the nationalist VMRO DPMNE party - led by Nikola Gruevski - of fomenting tension in Macedonia to prevent a peaceful transfer of power and save themselves from criminal prosecution.

"This is being done solely to protect their crimes," Zaev told the TV show "Otvoreno" ["Open"] on Thursday night.

Macedonian journalists staged protests in the capital Skopje Wednesday evening, following the death threat sent to journalist Borjan Jovanovski, Reuters reported.

OSCE media rep calls on Skopje to investigate threats

VIENNA -- Dunja Mijatovic has called on Macedonia's authorities to immediately investigate the death threat against the NOVA TV editor Borjan Jovanovski and his family.

Journalists, NGO activists and some former politicians joined the gesture of support for the journalist Borjan Jovanovski after a funeral wreath sent by an anonymous person arrived at his family home.

In a symbolic protest, the journalists delivered their own funeral wreath to the government, inscribed with the same words: "Final Greetings".

Macedonian journalists have condemned the death threat issued to a prominent TV reporter, Borjan Jovanovski.

A funeral wreath with the words "Final Greetings" written on it was delivered to his family home on Tuesday evening while Jovanovski himself was out.

A petition has been launched on social media in Macedonia urging the government to name a street in the capital Skopie after the recently deceased former Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev.

Zhelev, Bulgaria's first democratically-elected President after the fall of communism in 1989, passed away on 30 January.