Photo: Slobodan Djuric/Sloboden Pechat

Mijalkov's crime has expired, and Jankuloska has been acquitted for the destruction of the wiretapping systems

The former director of the Security and Counterintelligence Administration, Sasho Mijalkov, has had the statute of limitations imposed on him, and the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Gordana Jankuloska, has been acquitted for the destruction of the surveillance systems in the "Fortress" case, a case for which the verdict was announced today.

Judge Ilija Trpkov found guilty the former UBK intelligence officers, Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boshkoski, who escaped from Macedonia to Greece, the former head of Mijalkov's cabinet, Toni Jakimovski and Valentina Simonovska, for the destruction of the systems that were used to eavesdrop on thousands of citizens, businessmen, politicians and journalists.

Gruevski was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison for three criminal offenses, Jakimovski was sentenced to three years in prison for two criminal offenses, Boškoski was sentenced to nine years and ten months, and Valentina Simonovska received a suspended sentence.

Jankuloska was released because, as the judge said, the prosecutor did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed the crime for which she was charged.

"Fortress" was part of the "Target-Fortress" case, that is, part of the mass wiretapping case that became obsolete with the amendments to the Criminal Code passed in September 2023. Judge Trpkov called these changes "an intrusion into the judiciary".

- It is not clear to me how after so many years of democracy, the politicians did not understand that any intrusion into the judiciary does not bring anything good either for them or for the citizens - said Trpkov.

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