Skopje Criminal Court | Photo by: Svilen Enev

Two weeks before the September 15 deadline expires for the appointment of a special prosecutor to deal with illegal surveillance allegations in Macedonia, the Skopje Criminal Court has ruled that the tapes of conversations provided by the opposition are invalid as court evidence.

The court said that both the tapes and their transcripts were "illegally obtained" and thus "cannot be used in a procedure" in court.

The tapes, which the opposition Social Democrats have been releasing since February, appeared to reveal the government's direct involvement in election fraud and abuse of the justice system and media.

They suggested the Prime Minister's involvement in illegal purchase of construction land and in taking provisions among other wrongdoings, and also suggested the authorities covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer.

The Social Democrats say the tapes show that Gruevski and his cousin, former secret police chief Saso Mijalkov, were behind the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including government ministers.

Goran Sugarevski, from the Social Democrats, said the shock ruling confirmed that the courts operated under the influence of the authorities.

"This is a scandal on an unprecedented scale. If there was a proper prosecution that was not under the control of [the ruling] VMRO DPMNE [party], this would not have happened, nor would there be any need for a special prosecutor," he said.

He said that the ruling party was trying by any means to eliminate the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Prime Minister Gruevski, who has been in power since 2006, has insisted that the compromising tapes in question were “created” by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition to destabilise the country.

As part of the June 2 crisis deal brokered by European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, the opposition and government agreed to the appointment of a new special prosecutor with full authority to lead investigations into claims about illegal interceptions of communications. The deadline for the appointment was set at September 15.

The existing prosecution has already opened cases against Gruevski, Mijalkov, former police minister Gordana Jankuloska, former Transportation Minister Mile Janakieski, Gruevski's chef-de-cabinet Martin Protugjer and other high officials.

But the opposition does not trust the current prosecution service, insisting that the tapes have shown that it is a government puppet.

The June 2 crisis agreement also stipulated the return of opposition MPs to parliament, which took place on Tuesday, the appointment of new Interior and Labour ministers from the ranks of the opposition as well as resignation of Gruevski in mid-December, 100 days before the snap elections set for April.

Other outstanding issues envisaged by the agreement include a revision of the electoral law and measures to ensure unbiased media reporting of the campaign.