Macedonia: Opposition Publishes 'List of Government Wiretapping Victims'

Published: 30 April 2015

Zoran Zaev

By Igor Spaic

Macedonia's main opposition party has revealed what it claims is a list of the names of 20,000 people that the government monitored using illegal wiretapping.

The Social Democrats (SDSM) allege that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and other senior members of his government ordered police to monitor the communications of targets named in a list they published at a press conference on Tuesday.

Documents handed to journalists at the conference contained the codenames claimed to refer to wiretapped targets. Among them was "DS Zeko", which SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said officials had named him, while former President of Macedonia Branko Crvenkovski was said to have been tagged "Cross".

Zaev said data contained in dossiers published by his party had come from intelligence compiled by Macedonian surveillance services. Gruevski, on the other hand, maintains that the data was collected by foreign secret service agencies which, in cahoots with the opposition, aim to destabilize the country.

Zaev said SDSM has forwarded 10,000 pages, including the names of officials who allegedly carried out the surveillance, to the prosecutor.

Zaev was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to overthrow the government with the help of an unnamed foreign intelligence service in February. He has been under fire from allies of the prime minister after claiming to possess proof of corruption and abuse of power in the highest echelons of Macedonia's ruling party.

At Tuesday's conference, Zaev also announced a mass protest to take place in Skopje with the aim of forcing Gruevski out of office.