The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in North Macedonia has filed a criminal lawsuit against the former Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, whom it accuses of involvement in irregularities during the last parliamentary elections. According to the police announcement, Mr. Bekteshi exerted pressure through electronic messages on a chief of police in the city of Ohrid. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has published the announcement on its website, as it waits for the prosecution to proceed with the case.
The Internal Affairs Sector (SPB) in Ohrid has filed criminal charges against Mr. Bekteshi due to suspicions that he has obstructed justice, as stated on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Ex-minister Bekteshi, through an article on Facebook, rejects the accusations as baseless.
“On May 7, in my capacity as the coordinator of the European Front in Electoral unit 5, I received information from the headquarters of the European Front in Ohrid that on the day of election silence, the head of staff and members of the staff were checked by SPB-Ohrid, which is a direct intervention in the electoral process by the SPB-Ohir”, Mr. Bekteshi writes.
He published the message he had sent at that time to the head of the Internal Affairs sector in Ohrid, where he complained that the police had exercised control over the members of the electoral coalition in which DUI was a part.
“Well done! You are strong. You should be ashamed of dealing with new people.”
The former minister accuses the government of taking revenge and blackmailing him and his colleagues from his party, the Democratic Union for Integration.
DUI also reacted by describing the accusations as baseless, which according to it are aimed at discrediting the party and its representatives.
“The DUI condemns the politically motivated witch hunt. The baseless accusations of obstruction of justice against Mr. Bekteshi are the latest in the wake of accusations and threats against our officials.” it is said in a reaction of the Albanian opposition party.
Meanwhile, the VMRO-DPMNE party in power says that DUI should not manipulate the media and that “it is better for it to distance itself as soon as possible from people like (Kreshnik) Bekteshi”.
The Democratic Union for Integration announced just a few days ago that some of its deputies had received threatening messages via e-mail. The Ministry of Order did not give any details other than the announcement that the police have been notified of the case and that they are investigating it.
On the other hand, exponents of the Vlen coalition, part of the governing coalition, have accused the DUI of having fabricated the threats themselves to present themselves as victims before the public opinion.
