Sasho Mijalkov, former director of the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK), was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison in the “Target-Fortress” case related to the mass surveillance and destruction of the UBK equipment used for the interception of communications.
Mijalkov was charged with crimes “criminal association”, “abuse of office” and “receiving a reward for unlawful influence”.
Former minister of interior Gordana Jankuloska was sentenced to four years in the same case.
In the verdict’s elaboration, judge Vladimir Tufekdzhikj said the mass surveillance and the enormous number of victims demonstrated the need for the interception – establishing full control over the social, economic and political system.
According to him, the case has had enormous significance for the system as a whole and should serve as caution for authorities such as UBK to avoid repeating such actions in the future.
Former chief of MoI’s Fifth Administration Goran Grujovski and UBK employee Nikola Boshkoski, who have escaped to Greece, are also indicted in the case, alongside former seven other UBK employees are also indicted in the case.
Between 2008 and 2015, the defendants, by using three different surveillance systems for intercepting communications as part of the former secret police, illegally wiretapped close to 4,300 telephone numbers without obtaining court orders to do so, directly or indirectly affecting about 20,000 citizens.
