Chief Special Prosecutor, Katica Janeva in front ot the Secret Police HQ. Photo by: NOVA.TV

On a dramatic Friday night in Macedonia, Chief Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva personally intervened at the Beko police station in Skopje to ensure the release of an investigator who she said had been arrested for no good reason.

“The investigator was held without any grounds. We have no written document for his arrest,” Janeva said, adding that the commander of the police station should explain the reasons.

Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski – who comes from the opposition – later clarified that the investigator was detained in an upscale district of Skopje while trying to photograph the presumed residence of former secret police chief Saso Mijalkov.

Mijalkov, along with his cousin, Nikola Gruevski, former Prime Minister and head of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, are accused of having masterminded a massive illegal wiretapping operation. They deny the allegations.

Minister Spasovski said he was doing his best to prevent Interior Ministry staff from harrassing and obstructing Janeva’s special prosecution office, SJO, which was set up to probe high-profile crime and corruption.

Spasovski said the SJO investigator was apparently arrested on the orders of the regular prosecution after security staff around the building he tried to photograph called the police.

After securing the release of her staffer, Janeva headed towards the HQ of the Secret Police, UBK, where another SJO investigator was expelled while on duty there, guarding evidence of secret police wiretapping that the SJO is trying to obtain.

The SJO investigator reported being expelled just hours after Janeva and her team left the secret police HQ, after they had spent three days and nights there, trying to extract evidence under a court order.

The SJO is seeking evidence from the police communications surveillance system in order to determine who was behind the massive illegal wiretapping operation.

However, the secret police and other officials appointed by the ruling party have blocked the SJO from obtaining all the evidence it seeks, insisting it might harm national security.

The special prosecutors left the building on Friday afternoon with only part of the evidence they sought.

The SJO investigator – who was later expelled – was left on the UBK’s premises to watch over the evidence while IT experts arrived to extract the rest of the data, as the UBK had insisted.

Interior Minister Spasovski said he had boosted police security after the SJO investigator was expelled from the UKB, which, along with the cameras at the UBK headquarters, should ensure the safety of the police equipment overnight.

The Interior Ministry is headed by an interim minister from the ranks of the opposition under the terms of an EU-brokered political deal reached this summer.

However, his deputies and many of the police chiefs now hindering the work of the SJO, are mainly from the ranks of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

After the dramatic events of Friday night, Janeva and her team are expected Saturday to return to the UBK premises to continue to watch over the evidence.

The SJO also announced it was raising criminal charges against the police officials who had obstructed their work.

The drama around the secret police headquarters comes as Macedonia prepares for snap elections on December 11 that are aimed at resolving the longstanding political crisis in the country.