Hearings resume on Wednesday into the charges of “terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security” against alleged organizers of the violent April 27, 2017, storming of Parliament.
Judge Ilija Trpkov is presiding over the court proceedings. Vilma Ruskovska is the prosecutor.
Defendants include former Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski, ex-transport minister Mile Janakievski, ex-education minister Spiro Ristovski, as well as former Administration for Security and Counterintelligence director Vladimir Atanasovski.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they organized, funded, and involved patriotic associations in protests to prevent the transfer of power to the newly formed parliamentary majority; reduced the number of police officers securing the protests and Parliament; removed obstacles to allowing the crowd to enter Parliament, and hired people to commit violence and prevent the new Parliament Speaker from being appointed.
“Through these activities,” the PPO indictment reads, “the suspects aroused feelings of threat, insecurity, and fear in the citizenry.”
