Wiretapping scandal set 37: A bomb that went off quietly

By admin On Jun 9, 2016 0

The “Big Brother” kept an eye on the communications of the activists and the democracy fighters. Photo: Screen shot

On 8^th of June last year, in the 37^th sequel of the “Truth about Macedonia”, SDSM did not publish neither wiretapped conversations nor transcripts for the first time. They did so because, as Zaev pointed out, the dignity of the civil society, which is one of the foundations of democracy, must be respected.

In the 37^th sequel of the “Truth about Macedonia” cycle, i.e. the 37^th press conference, which was the fourth in a row held in the Camp of Freedom that was set in front of the Government building, Zoran Zaev, the president of the biggest opposition party, did not present wiretapped recordings. He said he was taking that step because the topic of his address to the public was the wiretapping of the civil sector, and as Zaev said, “the civil sector is one of the paramount pillars of the democratic society, or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be in a normal country and we are all obliged to respect that”.

Stating that the materials will be handed to the wiretapped persons, SDSM’s leader also stressed that the services of the Administration for Security and Counter Intelligence, “under the directive of Gruevski and Mijalkov in the Republic of Macedonia” were monitoring and wiretapping the Metamorphosis Foundation, NGO Info Center, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia, Transparency Macedonia, Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM), CIVIL – Center for Freedom, Civil Society Research Center, Civil Policy Platform – AJDE!, FORUM – Center for Strategic Research and Documentation, Macedonian Center for European Training (MCET), Freedom Square and many other civil associations.

Zaev stressed that this number of wiretapped persons is not final, and also that these associations were monitored by wiretapping the heads of the organizations or their active members. This means that there are cases in which one organization has more wiretapped civil activists.

– It is enough to hear the names of the organizations whose heads are monitored, in order to become clear that they are the most active organizations – critical observers of the social processes, which via their activities, are dedicated to the fight for promoting various types of human rights guaranteed with the Constitution and the laws in the Republic of Macedonia – said Zaev.

He pointed out that through the monitoring and wiretapping of one of the most sensitive sectors, the civil sector – defender of the rights and interests of the citizens, of the free and critical thought, Gruevski has jeopardized the fundamental civil and human rights.

All of the “bombs” are here.

Press conference of Zoran Zaev, president of SDSM, in Skopje, 8^th of June 2015

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.