Masked people in Macedonia’s parliament during the April 27 rampage. Photo: Anadolu Agency

Macedonia’s Organized Crime Prosecution has apparently identified some of the masked thugs who took part in a rampage in parliament in April, an unnamed source in the prosecution body told BIRN on Monday.

They have done so by comparing photographs taken before the rampage with footage taken during the actual attack on parliament, the source said.

“In some photos, the alleged attackers are seen wearing the same outfits or other recognizable markings but are not masked, which helps the identification process,” the source said.

BIRN was unable to find out whether or when, based on the new findings, the Organized Crime Prosecution plans to file new charges concerning the attack.

“Let’s wait and see. It is a very complex investigation with many people involved and many possible offences,” the same source said.

The violence in parliament began just after 6pm on April 27 when a majority of 67 MPs in the 120-seat parliament elected a new opposition-backed speaker, Talat Xhaferi.

The election was widely regarded as a step towards the establishment of a new coalition government, led by the Social Democrats, which was finally elected in late May.

The former ruling VMRO-DPMNE party bitterly opposed the move. Ever since the general election, it had been stalling moves in order to avoid losing power, preventing the election of a new speaker for months, and complaining that such a move was unlawful.

In the middle of this crisis, violent protesters, including people wearing black hoods who some suspect were police officers, were allowed to break into parliament and attack opposition MPs, virtually unopposed by riot police.

Some some 100 people, including ten MPs, were injured.

Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev, who has since become the Prime Minister, was among the injured, after sustaining deep cuts to his forehead.

Last weekend, Telma TV, also citing an unnamed source, informed viewers that the investigation had made another possibly relevant discovery, by pinpointing where the former chief of the Public Safety Bureau, Mitko Cavkov, had been during the attack.

According to Telma’s source, by using triangulation of his cell phone, the investigation had determined that Cavkov spent much of the night close to the parliament building, only some 100 metres away.



Cavkov, who was in charge of the police’s command centre and who the former provisional Interior Minister accused of being unreachable much of that night, when he should have sent police reinforcements, previously denied any responsibility for the incident. He also refused to give a statement to the interior ministry’s own inquiry into the case.

The Public Prosecution faced criticism for charging only those directly involved in the assaults, nine of whom received probation sentences and exited the courtroom with smiles on their faces.



Critics insisted on a full investigation that would also determine the role of the masked persons and pinpoint potential instigators and helpers as well.

Public pressure intensified when a video appeared in May showing MPs from the former ruling VMRO-DPMNE party opening parliament’s main gate, allowing their supporters to enter the building and begin the rampage.



So far, none of the MPs who were filmed doing this have been held accountable.

In a potential breakthrough in the case, the Organized Crime Prosecution, which handles more complex crime cases, took over the investigation in late May.