The State Department has blacklisted former Skopje Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, calling him responsible for a series of “serious corruption cases in the country” that undermine peace and stability in the Western Balkans.

The State Department imposed similar sanctions on both Skopje’s former intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, (Nikola Gruevski’s first cousin, convicted at first instance for a number of offenses) and on an official of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gordanaj Tadic (Bosnian Serb).

According to State Department spokesman, Ned Price, “their actions undermined the rule of law, democratic institutions and public order in both countries and reduced public confidence in their governments.”

The State Department recently imposed similar sanctions on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s member of the collective presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Donik (the pro-Russian leader of the Bosnian Serbs), and on the former Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha.

Nikola Gruevski fled in November 2018 to Budapest, where he sought – and received – political asylum from the Hungarian authorities, in order to avoid a two-year prison sentence imposed on him by a Skopje court for corruption.

Source: APA MPA

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