Illegal influence in the election process (known as the Titanic 2 case)
More resultsIntroduction
In November 2017, the Basic Court in Skopje approved the indictment for six defendants, but the charges were dropped against five judges serving in the Administrative Court. The SPO charged Saso Mijalkov, who was then chief of the intelligence agency, of making a deal with Menduh Thaci, president of the DPA political party, to influence the decisions of members of the State Election Commission at the time (namely Bedredin Ibraimi, Sasho Srcev, Aneta Stefanovska and Vlatko Sajkovski), so that local elections in the town of Strumica would be annulled and repeated.
- Country
- North Macedonia
- Sector
- Elections
- Offence
- Abuse of official position or authority
- Phase
- 2nd instance procedure
Description of the case
On 29 June 2017, the Special Prosecution Office (SPO) brought an indictment against 11 suspects for election fraud in 2013.
In November 2017, the Basic Court in Skopje approved the indictment for six defendants, but the charges were dropped against five judges serving in the Administrative Court. The SPO charged Saso Mijalkov, who was then chief of the intelligence agency, of making a deal with Menduh Thaci, president of the DPA political party, to influence the decisions of members of the State Election Commission at the time (namely Bedredin Ibraimi, Sasho Srcev, Aneta Stefanovska and Vlatko Sajkovski), so that local elections in the town of Strumica would be annulled and repeated.
On 8 March 2019, the Basic Court in Skopje brought a first-instance verdict that sentenced Saso Mijalkov to three years in prison, Menduh Thaci to three years and two months in prison, Bedredin Ibrahimi to four-and-a-half years in prison, and Aneta Stefanovska, Vlatko Sajkovski and Saso Srcev to three years in prison.
On 23 December 2019, the Skopje Court of Appeal set aside the verdicts against Mijalkov, Thaci, Ibrahimi and the three former members of the State Election Commission from the VMRO-DPMNE party. The case was remanded for retrial at the direction of the Skopje Court of Appeal on the basis of substantive violations of procedure committed by the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje.
The overturned verdicts in the case indicate signs of state capture and point to shortcomings in the judicial system.
Corruption offence
Abuse of official position and authorisation (Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the of the Republic of North Macedonia), in conjunction with Article 22 of the CC pertaining to cooperation, and accepting a reward for unlawful influence (Article 359).
Other (non/criminal) laws breached
Suspects' institutional affiliation
Mijalkov was chief of the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence.
Thaci is president of the DPA political party and Ibraimi is a member.
Srcev, Stefanovska and Sajkovski were members of the State Election Commission.
Date of offending
From March 2013 to April 2013
Sector affected by the offence
Public finance; Elections
Related developments
The VMRO-DPMNE political party lost the elections in 2016 under the circumstances of the investigations.
Court
The Court of First Instance Skopje 1 and Skopje Court of Appeal
Related domestic or foreign cases
There are four other proceedings initiated by the SPO against the defendant Saso Mijalkov: Imperija, Target/Tvrdina, Tortura and Trezor.
Current stage of the case in criminal procedure
2nd instance procedure
Procedural history
On 29 June 2017, the SPO brought an indictment against 11 suspects for the crime of abuse of official position and authorisation, and charged one defendant with accepting a reward for unlawful influence.
In November 2017, the Evaluation Chamber for the indictment at the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje approved the indictment for six defendants: Menduh Thaci , Bedredin Ibraimi, Saso Mijalkov, Sasho Srcev, Aneta Stefanovska and Vlatko Sajkovski. According to the SPO, the defendants committed election fraud in 2013.
The charges were dropped against five suspects, all of them judges serving in the Administrative Court: Blagorodna Rangelova, Aneta Dzigerova, Biljana Nikodinovska Petrovska, Lidija Ivanovska and Gazment Fejzula.
The first hearing in the case, which was scheduled for 24 April 2018, was postponed to 10 May 2018 so that the defendants could familiarise themselves with the updated text of the indictment, excluding the part on the five judges in the Administrative Court.
A total of nine hearings were held in the period from 15 September 2018 to 15 March 2019. At the hearings, the defence presented the evidence produced on the evidence list. During the presentation of the evidence, the court ordered preparation of a higher-level expert report, and after concluding the presentation of the evidence, the prosecution and the defence delivered their closing arguments.
On 8 March 2019, in a first-instance verdict, the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje sentenced Mijalkov to three years in prison, Thaci to three years and two months in prison, Ibrahimi to four-and-a-half years in prison, and Stefanovska, Sajkovski and Srcev to three years in prison.
On 23 December 2019, the Skopje Court of Appeal set aside the verdicts against Mijalkov, Thaci, Ibrahimi and the three former members of the State Election Commission from the VMRO-DPMNE party. The case was remanded for retrial at the direction of the Skopje Court of Appeal on the basis of substantive violations of procedure committed by the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje.
Resolution of the case
On 23 December 2019, the Skopje Court of Appeal set aside the verdicts against Mijalkov, Thaci, Ibrahimi and the three former members of the State Election Commission from the VMRO-DPMNE party. The case was remanded for retrial.
Applicable minimum and maximum penalty in the highest band for the
For abuse of official position and authorisation (Article 353 of the of the Criminal Code): sentence is prison from six months to three years (paragraph 1) and prison for at least five years (paragraph 5).
For accepting a reward for unlawful influence (Article 359 of the CC) sentence is prison from one to three years (paragraph 1) and prison from one to ten years (paragraph 7).
Charges pressed by the prosecutor in the actual case)
On 29 June 2017, the SPO filed an indictment charging 11 suspects with abuse of official position and authorisation under Article 353 of the CC, and an indictment proposal charging one person with accepting a reward for unlawful influence under Article 359 of the CC.
Sanctions imposed
First-instance verdicts for six defendants were announced on 8 March 2019:
Saso Mijalkov was sentenced to three years in prison.
Menduh Thaci was sentenced to three years and two months in prison.
Bedredin Ibrahimi was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Vlatko Sajkovski, Saso Srcev and Aneta Stefanovska were each sentenced to three years in prison.
The court accepted the SPO’s request and ordered the detention of Mijalkov and Ibrahimi, while the other four convicts received precautionary measures.
Sanctions enforced
On 23 December 2019, the Skopje Court of Appeal set aside the verdicts against Mijalov, Thaci, Ibrahimi and the three former members of the State Election Commission from the VMRO-DPMNE party. The case was remanded for retrial at the direction of the Skopje Court of Appeals on the basis of substantive violations of procedure committed by the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje.
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