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Macedonian president pardons 56 in wiretap scandal, U.S. raps move
Source: Reuters
World | Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:50pm EDT
Macedonian president pardons 56 in wiretap scandal, U.S. raps move
SKOPJE | BY KOLE CASULE
Macedonia's president pardoned 56 government and opposition figures on Wednesday in a wiretapping scandal despite protests against the move at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians".
A day after causing uproar in Macedonia by announcing he planned a blanket amnesty over the affair, President Gjorge Ivanov published notices in Macedonia's official gazette exempting former prime minister Nikola Gruevski - a political ally - and other prominent politicians from prosecution.
Also pardoned were opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who revealed the existence of the recordings last year, and former security service official Zoran Verusevski, who Gruevski accused of giving the wiretaps to Zaev in an attempt to bring down his government.
Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people.
The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the European Union and NATO.
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Macedonian president pardons 56 in wiretap scandal, U.S. raps move
SKOPJE | BY KOLE CASULE
Macedonia's president pardoned 56 government and opposition figures on Wednesday in a wiretapping scandal despite protests against the move at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians".
A day after causing uproar in Macedonia by announcing he planned a blanket amnesty over the affair, President Gjorge Ivanov published notices in Macedonia's official gazette exempting former prime minister Nikola Gruevski - a political ally - and other prominent politicians from prosecution.
Also pardoned were opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who revealed the existence of the recordings last year, and former security service official Zoran Verusevski, who Gruevski accused of giving the wiretaps to Zaev in an attempt to bring down his government.
Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people.
The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the European Union and NATO.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-macedonia-wiretap-usa-idUSKCN0XA1ZB