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About us

Implementing organisation

Organisational Background and Capacity to implement the projects

 

WHO WE ARE

Our mission

In times of extremely large scale and uncontrolled propaganda spread both through traditional and new media, the right of the citizens to have accurate and relevant information is limited. This affects strongly the ability of the citizens to make the right decisions for themselves. One of the strongest illustration of this limitation can be seen in the intervention on their rights to vote on democratic elections due to the widely spread propaganda and misinformation both on traditional and digital media platforms. The media stakeholders are loosing trust and parallel to this process there is big drop in trust in institutions as well as drops in the voter turnouts on elections, not just in Macedonia, but also in the region and globally. On the other hand, corruption and organized crime, as well as weak institutions that do not implement the principles of rule of law is leading to fast growing inequality among citizens. In 2015 the UN adopted the new development goals – the struggle for equal opportunities. The reasons for this trends are spoted in the increased corruption practices in the developing countries. The Investigative Reporting Lab aims to increase the influence of the investigative reporting in society and help citizens understand how corruption affect their lives. Through brave, innovative and interdisciplinary approach that involves reporters cooperation with academic community, technology experts, marketing experts, bloggers, civil society activist, we aim to rebuild trust in institutions by building trust in media as a watch dog in society.

Strategic goals

  • Development of investigative and analytic reporting through synergy with various stakeholders and beneficiary groups
  • Increasing the influence of the investigating and watch dog reporting through innovation in the creation of content and meeting the real needs of the citizens
  • Increasing trust in media by the citizens as watch dog in society through strengthening  the communication of their needs and influencing institutions to be more accountable and transparent with our reporting
  • Inclusion of youth in creation of sustainable media environment resistant to political and corruptive influences through direct involvement of students, scholars and young reporters in our work and trainings.
  • Testing models of sustainability for independent organizations that cover corruption and rule of law through innovative social entrepreneurship

Our team

IRL Macedonia was founded in December 2017 as a result of more factors, but among them the need of a: female friendly environment that will allowed women journalist to be included in the design making process over the content production and impact on audience by being able to create independently editorial policies; to enable not just an investigative newsrooms, but also a teaching organization that will train the next generation of journalist under the highest ethical and professional standards and will enforce the standardization of fact checking; to guarantee reporting free of economic and political pressures; to innovate in the approach and create working environment where the use of new technologies and inter – disciplinary approaches will be possible and, to enable a competitive environment for reporters based on merits and team work.

Our founders are coming from diverse background and they were all wisely chosen in order to reflect our mission and goals. The organizational board is fully lead by women, and founders represent young  mid-career professionals.

Founder and President: Saska Cvetkovska, Investigative reporter

Founder and Vicepresident: Elena Mitrevska, technology experts (IT and graphic design)

Founder and Secretary general: Nevena Angelovska, project manager

Founder and Member of executive board: Maja Jovanovsksa, investigative reporter

Founder and Member of executive board: Aleksandra Denkovska, investigative reporter

Founder: Jovan Dimitrov, marketing expert

Founder: Kristina Tilic, financial expert

Founder: Teodora Popovska, civil society activists and local governance expert

Founder: Trajce Antonovski, video and TV expert

CAPACITY TO IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT

IRL Macedonia was founded with initial support by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Our media organization is the first in the country with a tech expert on board and our tech expert is the only female tech expert in the network of OCCRP of 30 organizations across Europe and Central Asia.  IRL is a member of OCCRP and as such, has access to tools and data bases, as well as various expertise in journalism and tecnollogy. This type of access represents are a rare privilege in many worldwide renowned media. This access will be used during the implementation of the project.

IRL is currently producing the investigative magazine PROVERENO (Checked) that is airing on TV24 news every Tuesday. The all female magazine that deals with corruption and rule of law has already beaten the rates and is currently among the top 10 highest rated political magazines with an average share of 7,6 although it air since February this year. Also, in the preparation of this proposal, we were using the experience of communication with citizens and noticed that the highest rates and wide reactions were received on the two separate tv magazines  that were dealing with urban planning and the so called urban mafia.

Project leader and expert– Saska Cvetkovska

The president and editor in chief Saska Cvetkovska is the leading investigative reporter in the country and the most awarded investigative journalist with more then 10 national and international prizes, among them the European “Press Freedom Award 2018 – A signal for Europe”awarded by the Repoters without Border – Austria for her cross-border work on the information war in the Balkans. She is author of Mediapedia, the database of Macedonian media ownership, as well as Spooks and Spins and currently works on finding  solutions and testing ideas that help addressing the impact of propaganda and strengthen the impact of real journalism as essential tool for fighting misinformation.

In the past years Macedonian investigative reporter Saska Cvetkovska worked on series of national and cross-border investigations that exposed corruption, espionage and trade of influence in the global information wars. She was working on topics such as propaganda and misinformation and their conncections with grand corruption as a new tools used to threaten democracies. Many of the stories that Cvetkovska broke while she and her team were under constant threats, attacks and long term surveillance and years long wiretapped communications by the Government. Her work appeared in the Guardian, Buzzfeed and other global media leading outlets.

Saska Cvetkovska is also the author of t“Get data” an online tool that maps all the available data recourses and bases by institutions and other stakeholders in Macedonia. This online guidance  is design to help investigative reporters, academic researchers, as well as NGOs and students of journalism to dig deeper by using the available informations online. In cooperation with the NGO Most Cvetkovska trained more than 100 local CSO and reporters across the country to dig public data online and offline based on the Get Data findings.

 

In the past 5 years  implemented four investigative, data and media projects sponsored by various donor (among them NED, The Dutch Embassy, EU and USAID). She managed full implementation over the projects totally worth more than 400,000 Euros and managed to boost changes and influenced on the understanding of the importance of high quality investigative reporting in the media landscape. A list of contacts among donors is available upon request if such vetting applies.

 

Administrative manager – Nevena Angelovska

Nevena Angelovska is an 15 years experienced project manager that has worked on administrating and managing different types of projects in the area of CSOs and media. She has experience in the area of public relations as al long term PR of film international festivals,  regional media organizations and an experience in managing project in public institutions. Angelovska will oversee the implementation of our project, will be responsible for administrating the funds together with the project maager, communicating the donors, accountancy and will assist in organization of the media camps since she is experienced in organizing regional panels, festivals and other events.

Editor and expert – Maja Jovanovska

Maja Jovanovska is an experience investigative reporter and corruption experts. She is member of the Council of Ethics and member of the board of the Independent Media Union. Jovanovska has been among the leading TV journalist that were reporting on corruption and crime.  She is multi-awarder for her stories. Jovanovska follows closely local corruption and effects of corruption on citizens daily lifes. Jovanovska was a member of the board of the Association of Journalist and currently serves as a member of the Ethics council of media.. Together with Cvetkovska, she was training repoters and CSOs representatives on investigating reporting techniques through Macedonia as part of cooperation with the NGO Most.  She will work alongside with Cvetkovska on the trainings with the young journalist as well as the other mayor investigation. She will oversee the work of other reporters.  Together with Saska Cvetkovska they will teach reporters on fact checking procedure, among other.

Techology expert – Elena Mitrevska

Elena Mitrevska is the first technology expert involved in the work of media. She came to work for investigative reporters practically as a volunteer and left her promising and high paid career as an IT expert in one of the mayor banks in the country. Mitrevska works in 5 different programs languages learned in her 9 years experience in the bank, and she is also responsible for the graphics design, which is her primary high education. She is the first tech personnel so far trained to work with reporters in the newsrooms. She came up with the technology solutions for Get Data, she is trained in creating data recourse and she works on the designs used to make the content user friendly.  Under the guadliance and in cooperation with the Chief of Tech in OCCRP, Mitrevska is tasked to oversee the digital security of the reporters.  Under this project, Mitrevska will work on the designs and creation of the Urban Danger projects, and she will be in charge to work with the Communicating experts on the designs and graphics used for stories and communicating the public.  Among other experts, she will also train young reporters how to think about data visualisations and safety.

Communication – Jovan Dimitrov

Jovan Dimitrov is a marketing experts with focus on digital brand promotion. He worked as marketing advisor in NLB  bank, but he is mostly known through his civic activism. He was the first person that popuirized the blogging among youth 10 years ago when he created the first and famous blog aggregator Blogirame.MK later smashed when Facebook strengthen its positions as a voice on the internet..He is the founder of Twitter Awards, one of the most popular events in the country that are awarding on early bases the different engagements of the twitter users in Macedonia. Mr. Dimitrov has been training CSO activist and journalist how to best promote their work and engage with citizens. He has been also teaching online digital marketing techniques upon invitation of a university in Switzerland. He will be responsible for the communication plan for the project and as a trainee in the media camps. He will also work closely with repoters and tech personell.

Organization’s key achievments so far

  • With limited funds of only 3,000 euros per months and volunteers and supporters we launched one of the top 10 TV programs in the country – the TV magazine Provereno;
  • Our stories on Russian meddling, make global impact. The Investigative Reporting Lab stories were quoted in mass media, republished by NATO, quoted in policy brief by the European Councul of Foreign Affairs, papers published by  Columbia University Fellows and Oxford University Press, famous global think tank strategic analyses, the Interdisciplinary journal of Southeast European University, Prague Security Studies Institute, books, ;
  • In March 2018 in Vienna, Austria, our editor Saska Cvetkovska won the Freedom of Press Award “Signal for Europe” by the Reporters without borders;
  • Our reporters were interviewed because of our stories for global media such as BBC, Bloomberg, Vice, AJ Plus, our investigation on Russian influence in the referendum on the name deal made us quoted in globally influential media, including the NYC Times , but also in media in many other Europan ;
  • Our organization was presented at the most important media event in the region – EU Western Balkan Media Days in organization by the European Commission where we were invite to present our work and to be directly involved in the designing of recommendations for future funding in media with representative from our organization who was rapourter on one of the 3 grand panels;
  • Our ground-braking investigation on the fake news industry in Veles in collaboration with Buzzfeed enable us to promote IRL as credible partner for global media. The story was republished in hundreds of media globally and was retweed at leas 2,000 times;
  • We mentored and assisted in the process of creation of the first after decades in depth youth TV magazine KRIK. ;
  • Our investigation on the assets of one of the biggest political parties led to the arrest of investigation that lead to freezing assets worth at least 30 millions of Euros;
  • Our investigation of the assets in media in Macedonia and Slovenia owned by Hungarian PM Victor Orban lead to international investigation by the Macedonian Financial Police.
  • Оur reporting on nepotism led to massive resigns in pubic administration upon a public call by the PM, but also lead to an ongoing investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

 

 

Sashka Cvetkovska

Sashka Cvetkovska

Еditor-in-chief

Sashka Cvetkovska is an internationally awarded investigative journalist and editor-in-chief of the Investigative Reporting Lab. Cvetkovska has worked on a number of national and cross-border investigations that have uncovered domestic and international crime, corruption, illicit arms trafficking and disinformation wars. The research she has worked on has been published in The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Süddeutsche Zeitung and others. Her current responsibilities are focused on increasing the impact of investigative reporting by creating new narratives of stories through film and campaigns. In that direction, she currently holds the position of producer of the Investigative documentary series Newsroom. For ten years, Cvetkovska has been part of the research team of the International Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an international media organization associated with IRL. She was a member of the Board of Directors of OCCRP and the Association of Journalists of Macedonia.

Elena Mitrevska Cuckovska

Elena Mitrevska Cuckovska

Editor for Development and Operations

Elena Mitrevska Cuckovska is the co-founder of IRL and together with the editor and his assistant, is responsible for monitoring and designing the implementation process of IRL activities. She is the project director of the documentary series Newsroom. She has been working with journalists for more than 10 years and has also worked on other technological solutions that allow more efficiency when searching public databases used by our reporters in order to make their work faster. She is a software engineer and graphic designer by profession and she is also the first technology expert who is trained and works in the field of media. She is part of the cross-border group of technological experts of OCCRP and contributes in collecting and analyzing information and as a researcher in IRL.

Bojan Stojanovski

Bojan Stojanovski

Editor and journalist

Bojan Stojanovski is a graduated journalist with over ten years of media experience. He worked in several national televisions – TV Alfa, TV 24 Vesti and TV Alsat. From first of November 2021, he is a part of the IRL team. Throughout his career, Stojanovski followed topics in the field of judiciary, crime, corruption. In 2013, he received “Nikola Mladenov” award for investigative journalism, on the topic “Employment in the public administration through the party list”.

Denica Chadikovska

Denica Chadikovska

Assistant managing editor for organization and communications

Denica Chadikovska is a graduated psychologist who started her journalistic career in 2017 as co-author and co-producer of the youth show Krik, funded by the UK Government. Chadikovska becomes part of the IRL team in 2018 as an investigative journalist – intern within the project for training future media leaders. In June 2020, she joins the position of communications officer in charge of implementing the IRL’s communications strategy as part of the communications and products team.

Maja Jovanovska

Maja Jovanovska

Researcher and journalist

Maja Jovanovska has a degree in journalism and follows topics in the field of corruption, crime and justice. In her long-term career, she worked in numerous media such as A1 television, Channel 5 television, Alsat and the NOVAtv portal before joining the founding board of IRL in 2018. She is the winner of domestic recognitions and awards and has participated in a number of trainings and conferences in the field of investigative journalism. She was a member of the management of the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia and the Council of Ethics in the Media in Macedonia, and is currently part of the management of ZNM.

Aleksandra Denkovska Gocevska

Aleksandra Denkovska Gocevska

Researcher and journalist

Aleksandra Denkovska Gocevska is a graduated journalist with ten years of experience. She worked in the daily newspaper Nova Makedonija, the Meta.mk news agency and the NOVATV portal. During her career, she worked on topics from the field of politics, urbanism, judiciary and corruption. She started working with investigative journalism in 2015 when she came to work as a reporter in the investigative newsroom of NOVATV. She is a participant in dozens of conferences and workshops on investigative journalism and is the author of the first undercover investigative story in Macedonia about the lives of the children from the May 25 home.

Aleksandar Janev

Aleksandar Janev

Researcher and journalist

Aleksandar Janev is a graduated economist who began his career as an economic journalist in 2008 at Alfa Television. He developed his professional reporting skills through training sessions with top economic journalists both domestically and abroad, including at Reuters in the United Kingdom. In 2010, he transitioned to the print media at Capital, where he worked until 2022. Concurrently, he contributed regularly to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and since 2018, he has been both an author and editor for the TV program “Agenda 35” broadcasted on Macedonian Radio Television. Since 2023, he has been a part of the IRL team focusing on corruption and economic crime.

Ivan Blazhevski

Ivan Blazhevski

Researcher and journalist

Ivan Blazhevski is a journalist specializing in international relations, crime, and corruption. He has been working as a journalist since 1998, and since 2001, he has been an editor and correspondent for the Spanish state news agency EFE covering Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo. Throughout his extensive career, Blazhevski has contributed to numerous media outlets such as Makpress, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Vecer, Dnevnik, Vreme, and Radio Free Europe, serving as editor for news and documentary programs at TV ALSAT for 18 years. He joined the team at IRL in 2024. Blazhevski has been honored with an investigative journalism award from the Macedonian Institute for Media (MIM) and has produced television programs in multiple countries and regions, including Japan, Greenland, Bolivia, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, East Africa, Cuba, Peru, Denmark, Italy, Germany, among others.

Pelagija Mladenovska Stojančova

Pelagija Mladenovska Stojančova

Researcher and journalist

Pelagija Mladenovska Stojančova is a journalist with over 16 years of experience in the media industry. She began her career at the daily newspaper “Shpic” in 2008 and later worked at the weekly “Sega”. Since 2009, she has been part of the team at Radio Free Europe’s Macedonian language service, reporting on politics, crime, corruption, and economics across various media platforms. Since 2024, she has been employed at IRL as an investigative journalist. She holds a degree from the Faculty of Philosophy and continued her education at the School of Journalism at the Macedonian Institute for Media (MIM). Throughout her career, she has been involved in projects focused on educating and mentoring young journalists.

Luka Blazev

Luka Blazev

Graphic designer

Luka Blazev is a graphic designer at IRL who becomes part of the team in 2019. His career in the field of graphic design and art began in 2017 by working on several projects for various domestic and foreign companies. At IRL, Blazev is in charge of finding graphic solutions for the research and for the design of the promotional content resulting from the research, which follows the communication strategy of IRL.

Trifun Sitnikovski

Trifun Sitnikovski

Director of "Newsroom"

Trifun Sitnikovski has been working in the film industry for more than a decade. He has shot more than a dozen short action films, short documentaries and three TV series on which he worked as screenwriter, director and executive producer. In addition to directing films, he has also worked on numerous projects as a producer, editor, cinematographer, assistant director and script supervisor for short films, TV shows, documentaries, commercials and music videos. His latest project as a director and screenwriter is the documentary series “Newsroom”.

Trajce Antonovski

Trajce Antonovski

Cinematographer

Trajce Antonovski is a cameraman and part of the cinematographers of the documentary series Newsroom. Antonovski has been working for more than 10 years on the visual realization of sports competitions under the auspices of UEFA and EHF. He worked in the newsroom of A1 and the NOVATV portal, and was part of the team for the realization of the political shows “Eurozum”, “Provereno”, as well as numerous entertainment projects such as the popular quiz “Who wants to be a millionaire”, “50-50 ” and other projects. In IRL Macedonia, he is part of the team in charge of filming the stories.

Gorjan Atanasov

Gorjan Atanasov

Video editor and producer

Gorjan Atanasov is a film and TV video editor with more than 8 years of experience in the film and television industry. Atanasov has worked on several features and documentary projects. As an editor, he has signed 6 short feature films, 2 feature-length documentaries, and currently he works in IRL as a video editor for the documentary series “Newsroom” and short video stories and multimedia projects of the organization.

The “Postal Bank” case dates back more than two decades. For just as long, investigators have examined the privatization of the country’s first state bank. The case was reopened in 2018 by the then Special Public Prosecutor’s Office (SPO). After the dissolution of the SPO, however, the case was transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption.

On June 13, 2024, the Criminal Court in Skopje halted the proceedings, citing the controversial amendments to the Criminal Code adopted by the government of SDSM and DUI. The case had been conducted against businessman Tome Glavchev, current president of the Basketball Federation of Macedonia; Ratko Dimitrovski, former mayor of Kochani from VMRO-DPMNE; and the lawyer Zoran Shuklev.

They were prosecuted on charges of abuse of official position and money laundering. The oversight established that the Criminal Court’s decision did not specify under which article of the Criminal Procedure Code the proceedings had been terminated.

The Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption, dissatisfied with the ruling, filed an appeal, arguing that Glavchev, Dimitrovski, and Shuklev should at minimum face accountability for the offense of money laundering.

However, High Public Prosecutor Jovan Cvetanovski waived the right to pursue the appeal before the Court of Appeal. He justified this decision through an official note, yet the oversight concluded that the reasons given for withdrawing the appeal were contradictory and unclear.

“Public Prosecutors Lile Stefanova and Elvin Veli believe that by withdrawing the appeal of the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption, the public prosecutor from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office Skopje did not act professionally, expertly and legally,” the report states.

Prosecutor Dzelal Bajrami, however, assessed that Cvetanovski had acted within his competencies. With the appeal withdrawn, the Court of Appeal no longer had the opportunity to consider the case. The proceedings were effectively closed.

The second case concerns illegal construction in the village of Zelenikovo involving Dragan Pavlovik-Latas and his two brothers, Zvezdan and Srdzan Pavlovik. On July 4, 2019, the Criminal Court acquitted them of all charges. The same verdict was reached again during the retrial on July 18, 2022.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje filed an appeal. On October 10, 2023, the appeal was accepted and a hearing was scheduled before the Skopje Court of Appeal. On November 6, 2023, the case was formally presented at the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Present at the session were the then State Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Joveski, public prosecutors Ferat Elezi and Sonja Simovska, and high public prosecutors Mustafa Hajrullahi and Jovan Cvetanovski.

“The conclusion from the presentation was that the public prosecutor representing the case at the Court of Appeal should propose commissioning an expert examination to determine whether the actions taken in the construction works constituted preparatory acts and to establish the date when construction began. An expert witness should be summoned to the main hearing to clarify the open questions,” the oversight report from the Skopje Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office states.

The very next day, the defense for the Pavlovik brothers submitted a new piece of evidence to the Court of Appeal — an expert report and opinion prepared by a defense-appointed expert witness. Cvetanovski requested that the hearing be postponed so he could cross-examine the expert. However, according to the oversight findings, what followed raised serious concerns.

“The public prosecutor at the hearing did not ask the questions he had previously announced in the record from November 7, 2024, and the questions that were posed did not elicit answers from the expert on the disputed issues raised during the presentation before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of North Macedonia,” the report states.

Cvetanovski also failed to follow the instructions issued during the internal prosecutorial meeting at the prosecution office to commission an independent expert examination. Instead, he accepted the expert report submitted by the defense.

“The public prosecutor acted contrary to Article 37 of the Rulebook on Internal Operations of Public Prosecutor’s Offices, according to which the position and opinion adopted after the presentation are binding for the lower public prosecutor’s office,” prosecutors Lile Stefanova and Elvin Veli wrote in the oversight report.

However, the third member of the supervisory commission, Dzelal Bajrami, disagreed. He concluded that Cvetanovski had acted in accordance with the conclusions adopted during the presentation at the internal prosecutorial meeting.

The third case examined during the oversight concerns the “Serta” case, involving public tenders for cleaning government institutions. The case reached the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office after the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal against a decision of the Criminal Court.

When reviewing the indictment, the Criminal Court accepted the objections raised by the accused Spaso Gjorgiev and the company “Serta,” who were prosecuted for abuse of procedures in a public procurement call. On January 29, 2024, the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed that decision.

It was in connection with this case that a report emerged of pressure being exerted on an official at the Skopje Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office responsible for registration and allocation of cases. According to her testimony, she received instructions from the then head of the Higher Prosecutor’s Office, Mustafa Hajrullahi, indicating which prosecutor should be assigned to the case.

“For the ‘Serta’ case, I was told to register it and assign it to public prosecutor Jovan Cvetanovski,” said Daniella Lape, an employee in the Skopje Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office. Her testimony is included in the oversight report.

At the Court of Appeal hearing on April 9, 2024, high prosecutor Cvetanovski withdrew the appeal.

“An inspection of the official note dated April 9, 2024 shows that the public prosecutor analyzed the evidence attached to the indictment, which is contrary to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, Articles 336 and 337, given the stage of the proceedings in which the case was at the time,” the oversight report states.

This interpretation is consistent with the Supreme Court's legal opinion issued on December 7, 2021, which states that the Council responsible for reviewing an indictment does not analyze the evidence or assess its quality. Its role is limited to determining whether evidence has been obtained unlawfully — an issue that should have been the focus of Cvetanovski’s argument.

“A judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of North Macedonia was issued in this case on September 11, 2024. In that ruling, the court established a violation of the law in favor of the defendants. The judgment further states that the violation committed by the Council reviewing the indictment could have been remedied if the high public prosecutor had not withdrawn the appeal,” the oversight document notes.

In their conclusions regarding this case, the public prosecutors Lile Stefanova and Elvin Veli wrote that by withdrawing the appeal, prosecutor Cvetanovski did not act professionally, competently, or in accordance with the law. They further stated that he engaged in an analysis of evidence and the existence of intent to commit a criminal offense — matters that fall within the exclusive authority of the court. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor Dzelal Bajrami again took the position that Jovan Cvetanovski had acted within the scope of his authority.

The fourth case selected for additional scrutiny also involved the prosecutor assigned Roman numeral II — Jovan Cvetanovski. At first glance, it appeared routine: a case concerning the illegal serving of alcoholic beverages to a minor.

The court in Negotino found Gjorgji Lazov, Ilija Vangelov, and the company DPTU “S.O.S. Obezbeduvanje (Security)” DOO Negotino guilty. The defendants challenged the verdict, filing an appeal that moved the case to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje.

On February 3, 2023, the Skopje Court of Appeal overturned the ruling and returned the case for retrial. Prosecutor Jovan Cvetanovski did not attend the public hearing at the appellate court, despite the fact that the Higher Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje had previously concluded that the defendants’ appeals were unfounded.

On May 8, 2023, the court in Negotino issued a new verdict, again finding the defendants guilty. The defendants once more appealed the decision.

“On August 23, 2023, the public prosecutor at the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje, Jovan Cvetanovski, submitted a written proposal KOŽ.no. 1187/23 to the Skopje Court of Appeal, proposing that the defendants’ appeals be rejected as unfounded,” the oversight report states.

In that submission, Cvetanovski argued that the retrial had been conducted in accordance with the appellate court’s instructions and that the deficiencies identified in the initial proceedings had been fully addressed.

Yet only months later, his position shifted.

“At the hearing on 26 December 2023, the public prosecutor withdrew the indictment. From the review of the Skopje Court of Appeal’s judgment, it is evident that no new evidence was presented during the hearing and nothing altered the factual situation compared to the moment when the written proposal had been submitted,” the oversight report notes.

On the same day — December 26, 2023 — Cvetanovski drafted an official note stating that he had withdrawn the indictment because there was insufficient evidence to support the criminal offense.

The three prosecutors who conducted the oversight — Lile Stefanova, Elvin Veli, and Dzhelal Bajrami — reached a rare point of consensus regarding this decision. In earlier cases examined during the oversight, Bajrami had taken the view that Cvetanovski’s actions fell within his legal authority. In this instance, however, he concluded otherwise.

“Public prosecutors Lile Stefanova, Elvin Veli and Dzhelal Bajrami believe that, taking into account the written proposals in both proceedings and the positions expressed in them, and in a situation where no new evidence was presented at the main hearing, by dropping the indictment the public prosecutor did not act professionally, expertly and legally,” the oversight report states.

Despite this joint assessment, the 20-page oversight report ultimately carried only two signatures — those of Lile Stefanova and Elvin Veli.Dzhelal Bajrami did not sign the document, which was later submitted to then–State Public Prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski.

Attached to the report were Bajrami’s own official note, as well as a separate report from five employees describing how Mustafa Hajrullahi, while serving as head of the office, allegedly pressured them over the registration and allocation of cases within the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje.