Four former officials from North Macedonia’s conservative VMRO-DPMNE party have been released after their convictions for organizing a violent attack on parliament in 2017 were overturned. The court in the capital, Skopje, ruled that a 2018 amnesty law applied to the case.
In April 2017, approximately 200 protesters stormed parliament in protest over the election of an ethnic Albanian speaker and a proposed coalition government. The chaotic incident resulted in injuries to numerous individuals, including lawmakers and journalists.
The officials who were released on Thursday are Trajko Veljanovski, a former parliamentary speaker, former Cabinet ministers Spiro Ristovski and Mile Janakieski, and Vladimir Atanasovski, a former head of national security. Following their convictions in 2021, the four had received prison sentences of six to six-and-a-half years for endangering constitutional order and security.
The parliament attack represented a significant challenge to North Macedonia’s political stability since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. In the aftermath, trials and legal debates surrounding the attack have exacerbated political divisions, with critics alleging that amnesty laws have been utilized to protect influential figures.
North Macedonia’s conservatives regained power following the parliamentary and presidential elections last year after a seven-year absence from government.
