A judge from Macedonia’s Constitutional Court accused of being an informant for the former Yugoslav secret services has demanded the right to protest his innocence at a public hearing.
The judge's comments on Monday came after the country's Lustration Commission, designed to remove former communist-era informants from holding public office, last week confronted him with a secret service report it said provided evidence he was an informant during the Socialist Yugoslav period.
Officials from the Constitutional Court told the Lustration Commission the judge, whose identity cannot legally by law, wanted a public hearing on his case, despite the fact its sessions are closed.
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Sunday the lustration investigation put into question the credibility and legitimacy of recent rulings made by the Constitutional Court.
“Doubts about the functioning of the Constitutional Court for reaching controversial rulings are now becoming clearer”, Gruevski stated.
He blamed the opposition Social Democrats for “appointing members who lack professionalism".
Gruevski's anger with the Constitutional Court started last year after it annulled several of the governments’ key policies including those aimed at giving child benefits to parents in regions with low birth rates, the introduction of religious classes in primary schools and plans for revamping the capital under the Skopje 2014 project.
He has been blaming the opposition Social Democrats for instructing the Court’s decisions.
The case has sparked further debate over the lustration process in Macedonia which has been dogged by controversy since its launch.
Macedonia is following in the steps of many former communist and socialist states which have enacted similar laws in order to address past injustices stemming from politically motivated judicial proceedings.
Officials and judges found to be former informants are forced to withdraw from office, but their names are not allowed to be publicly disclosed.
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