State Lottery trial halted after defendant requests indictment in Albanian
Court stopped the trial so a defendant could receive the indictment proposal in Albanian; prosecutors raised alleged damage to €9.7 million.
After a short reading of the indictment proposal, all defendants in the case over an alleged 9.7 million euro embezzlement at the State Lottery pleaded not guilty, but the hearing was interrupted when one of them demanded the document in Albanian.
The accused — Artan Grubi, Perparim Bajrami (tried in absentia as he remains at large), former Supervisory Board chair Skender Mehmeti, members Bojan Janev, former Government Secretary Metodija Dimovski, Fatmir Ramadanovski, Aleksandar Dimitrioski and Bashkim Avdi — all entered pleas of not guilty. During his turn to respond, Avdi invoked his legal right and requested to receive the indictment proposal in Albanian.
Judge pauses hearing to grant translation request
Judge Biljana Shuplinovska-Jovevski, surprised that the request had not been raised earlier, halted today’s session and ordered that Avdi be provided with the translated document. Prosecutor Aleksandar Davchevski described the move as an attempt to abuse procedural rights, noting that the defendant had already received court instructions through an interpreter.
The defendants face charges of Abuse of Official Position and Authority under Article 353 paragraphs 5, 4 and 1, together with Article 22 of the Criminal Code, for acts allegedly committed in 2023 and 2024. The prescribed prison sentence for these offences ranges from one to five years.
The updated indictment increases the initially estimated damage from about 8.2 million euros to about 9.7 million euros. Prosecutors allege the defendants unlawfully enabled the purchase of machines and video-lottery terminals and independently organized electronic gambling games, despite the legal right already being granted in 2013 to the company Casinos Austria. According to the indictment, Grubi chaired the government session that adopted the contested decision related to the State Lottery’s operations.
The lawyer representing the State Lottery as the injured legal entity said the company has claims but will decide later whether to pursue them within the criminal proceedings or in a separate civil suit. Grubi surrendered to authorities at the Blace border crossing on 23 February 2026 after 14 months on the run.
Photo: СДК.МК)
