Disinformation About the Detention of the Vasilevo Mayor (Re)published by a Dozen Portals Without Any Verification

By Ване Трајков On Jul 20, 2020 0

The news published by Infomax on 14 July 2020 under the title “Detention for the Mayor and another resident from Strumica due to distribution of pre-election bribery?” is disinformation and manipulation in order to discredit the Mayor from the ranks of the ruling SDSM, during pre-election silence. The portal misinforms in the very title without checking the information from any relevant source and draws the reader to the wrong truth

Author: Vane Trajkov

The news published by Infomax on 14 July 2020 under the title “Detention for the Mayor and Аnother resident from Strumica due to distribution of pre-election bribery?” is disinformation and manipulation in order to discredit the Mayor from the ranks of the ruling SDSM, during pre-election silence. The portal misinforms in the very title without checking the information from any relevant source and draws the reader to the wrong truth.

The police are looking for the Mayor of the municipality of Vasilevo, Marjan Janev, and the person Lazo Kuturovic-D’lgio for giving a pre-election bribe in Vasilevo and the municipalities around Strumica.

In a few minutes, this disinformation was republished by at least a dozen other portals with sensationalist headlines, adding that “the Public Prosecutor has already ordered detention for the two.” The republishing of the news was made without any verification, but some of the media withdrew the news after a few hours without any explanation.

The news of the “alleged” detention was denied by the additional Deputy Minister of Interior Slavjanka Petrovska on her official FB profile. A denial also came from the SIA Strumica, through which they appealed to the media not to tell lies in the pre-election period

Regarding the news presented on certain web portals that a measure of detention has been determined for the person M.J. and for another person from the Municipality of Vasilevo, we inform you that such a measure has not been determined against the indicated persons, but that they are handed an invitation to conduct a conversation and provide the necessary notifications, reads the statement from the SIA Strumica

The mayor of the municipality of Vasilevo, Marjan Janev, told Truthmeter that it was not the first time he had been blackmailed and discredited by certain portals without hearing the second side of the story. He denied that he had been detained and claimed that this was a direct attack on his successful work

I am appalled by the severity of the attacks and slanders, which I find absolutely absurd to comment on and, in this specific period, to fuel someone’s passions. I most responsibly claim that the so-called information that certain media place about me and spread through social media are complete lies and absolute untruths. With a pure heart and reason I completely reject and deny this allegation and at the same time I appeal to the madness to give way to reason and finally everyone to stop spending their creative energy and potential on lies and slander, but on something positive and good, said Mayor Janev, who underlined that he would seek the solution within the institutions.

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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 US non-profit foundation National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, the National Endowment for Democracy or their partners.