SDSM and VMRO‑DPMNE trade accusations after Novo Selo incident

Young members of the Social Democratic Party (SDMM) accused VMRO‑DPMNE at a press briefing of publishing confidential police material originating from the Strumica Police Station, and called for an immediate criminal probe. They demanded accountability for how the documents reached opposition officials and said the papers were used to carry out a political attack they described as a public lynching of young people.

SDMM also asked the Internal Control unit of the Ministry of Interior to determine who gave VMRO‑DPMNE functionaries access to the official records. In a forceful statement the party urged the Public Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation and press charges.

Claims and counterclaims

"VMRO at a press conference published information from documents from the Strumica Police Station. Information to which they have no right of access. Information that is recorded as classified. This is not politics, this is a criminal act. We demand that the Public Prosecutor's Office immediately open an investigation and file criminal charges against police officers from the Strumica Police Station who unlawfully removed and handed over confidential police data, the Minister of Internal Affairs Pance Toshkovski and Valentin Manasievski, who publicly published those data," said Hristijan Eftimov of SDMM.

VMRO‑DPMNE, for its part, published specific details about some of the people allegedly involved in the Novo Selo incident: names, police notes, earlier criminal proceedings and final convictions, including for violent offences and crimes related to narcotics. The party did not respond to the allegation that it used police documents without authorization; instead it argued that SDMM's reaction effectively acknowledged that convicted individuals and violent persons took part in the episode.

"Hristijan Eftimov, a grandson of the Zaevs, and Ilija Stojanov, his friend, are persons who were conditionally sentenced to one and a half years' suspended prison sentence because they beat foreign citizens in Strumica. Those same children Filipche presents as victims," said Valentin Manasievski of VMRO‑DPMNE.

The dispute stems from SDSM's initial claim that young party activists were physically assaulted during a visit by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. SDSM said its activists staged a peaceful protest about the water situation in Gostivar. As of publication there has been no public response from the Ministry of Interior about the allegation that confidential documents were leaked from the Strumica police station.

Photo: press material from the event