Talir 2 heads toward statute‑of‑limitations deadline as Skopje appeals court weighs appeal
Skopje appeals judges have four working days to rule before Talir 2 becomes time‑barred on 31 August.
The Skopje Court of Appeals has four working days left to decide the Talir 2 case before it becomes time-barred on 31 August. The first-instance judgment — in which Nikola Gruevski was acquitted and the proposed confiscation of VMRO-DPMNE’s headquarters was rejected — was published on 14 July by judge Daniela Aleksovska Stojanovska.
On 5 August the prosecution filed an appeal, and the next day the Basic Criminal Court sent the file to the higher court that must now rule on that appeal.
Procedural twists and where the file stands
Court sources say the file was forwarded twice to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje: first so the senior prosecutor could issue an opinion on the basic prosecutor’s appeal, and a second time after the defence’s response arrived — a response the senior prosecutor had not taken into account when first issuing his opinion. The case was then returned to the appellate court, but so far no decision has been published.
The Appeals Court confirmed that no party requested an open hearing, which means the judges will review the case behind closed doors. According to information available to the court, the reporting judge is Lirie Elezi Ajrulau. The senior public prosecutor who provided the opinion is Jovan Cvetanovski; he was also the prosecutor when the earlier Talir 2 verdict — a six-year prison sentence for Gruevski — was before the Appeals Court and at that time he proposed sending the case back for retrial.
The Appeals Court can either confirm the acquittal or overturn it. Because the case was already once annulled by a higher court, if the appellate panel decides to annul and alter the first-instance verdict they cannot simply return it to the Basic Criminal Court; instead the appellate judges would have to schedule a new trial and leave the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. Given the approaching statute-of-limitations deadline, that option may be difficult to complete in time.
Judge Aleksovska Stojanovska cited amendments to the Criminal Code as a central reason for the acquittal. Former lead prosecutor Lenche Ristoska — who ran the case until a few months ago and resigned after being stripped of certain powers — publicly pointed to several contradictions in the trial material. After reading the written reasoning of the judgment, the prosecution lodged an appeal.
The court must issue its ruling in the coming days; with the 31 August deadline looming, legal and political observers say the choice before the Appeals Court will determine whether Talir 2 can be tried again within the statutory window or is effectively closed for now.
Elena Ivanovska Mukoska
Photo: press material from the event
