To:
From:
OSCE PA Members
Igor Janushev, Member of Parliament,
Assembly of the Republic of N. Macedonia
Head of the Delegation of the Assembly of the Republic of N.
Macedonia to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Chairman of the Committee for Oversight of the Implementation of
the Measures for Interception of Communication;
Date:
Subject:
27
July
2021
Notice regarding the political persecution and the charges brought
against me
in
the "Design" case
Dear all,
First of all, let me express my disappointment and disbelief that I am forced to address you
this way. I believe you would agree with me that it is an imperative for the Republic of N.
Macedonia, as a candidate country for EU membership, to ensure full compliance with the
Copenhagen criteria as a requirement for full EU membership. This implies the existence of
institutions that will guarantee the rule of law and the respect for human rights. The reason I am
writing to you is to draw attention to the serious violations of these principles that the Primary
Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Cor~uption has committed by filing an indictment
against me and 3 other people in the case codenamed "Design".
1.
Indictment filed after the expiration of the deadline
The indictment has been filed after 3 years of conducting an investigation, which is contrary
to the legal opinion of the Supreme Court and to the provisions of the Public Prosecution Law.
Namely, the investigation regarding the "Design" case was opened on 11 October 2018,
however, according to the principle legal opinion of the Supreme Court, after the expiration of a
period of 18 months, the Special Prosecution Office (Macedonian: SJO) is no longer the prosecutor
authorized to take pre-investigative and investigative public prosecution actions, as provided for in
the Criminal Procedure Law. In this case, the Primary Public Prosecutor's Office has filed the
indictment on the basis of criminal proceedings initiated by the SJO, who is an unauthorized
prosecutor, and this constitutes a violation of the basic principle of the Criminal Procedure Law
protected by Article 17. There are no so-called "Bombs" attached to the indictment, and so the
question arises: what are the indications on the basis of which the SJO conducted the procedure?
2. Indictment contrary to the principles of the Criminal Procedure Law without stating
specific co-perpetrator actions
The
crime
that is the subject of the Indictment does not contain any description arising from
the legal specification of the crime "Abuse of office and authority" as referred to in Article 353
paragraph 5 in conjunction with paragraph 1 and Article 22 of the Criminal Code, i.e.
it
does not
1