Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s acquittal of graft charges sends concerning message that politicians abusing power will never be held accountable.
Vasko Magleshov
The two high-profile court cases codenamed “Talir 1” and “Talir 2” were among the few in North Macedonia that did not deal merely with corruption by an individual public official.
They were supposed to clarify whether VMRO DPMNE, the party which ruled the country for a decade between 2006 and 2017 – and is in power again – had amassed money and extensive property through abuses of power.
These cases were meant to draw a clear line between the party and the state.
Together with “Target-Fortress”, which focused on illegal wiretapping, and “Titanic”, concerning abuse of the electoral process to retain political power, Talir 1 and 2 ranked among the most important cases launched by the now defunct Special Prosecution Office, SJO.
For the first time in North Macedonia, the indictments mapped out the patterns of abuse of political power.
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