The chairman of the deleted association Cultural Center “Ivan Mihaylov” Ljubcho Georgievski has been accused of spreading xenophobia and racism “electronically” by the court in Bitola. The “Ilinden” association fully supports Ljubcho Georgievski, and the case has been going on for over 2 years. The next hearing will be on March 27. How is the trial going… Naser Raufi (right), lawyer of Ljubcho Georgievski (left), speaks to FACTI.
- Lawyer Raufi, you are defending Ljubcho Georgievski in the case being brought against him as chairman of the “Ivan Mihaylov“ club. How do you think the process is developing…
- Let me remind you that Ljubcho Georgievski is accused of two things - one is for spreading ideas on a national and racial basis, and the other is that as an administrator of a Facebook page he allowed discriminatory posts to be made that caused outrage among people.
- At the last hearing, you took an interesting step because you called the former Prime Minister of North Macedonia Ljubcho Georgievski as a witness. What is the goal, what do you expect him to say…
- We proposed that former Prime Minister Lyubcho Georgievski be a witness to prove whether Ivan Mihaylov has anything to do with fascism, because he was not convicted as a fascist. The questioning will be on March 27 and it is expected that the statements in the case will end with it. So we expect our witness to explain that Ivan Mihaylov has nothing to do with fascism and to explain from a historical point of view what Ivan Mihaylov's personality is. And we are doing all this because one of the accusations against Lyubcho Georgievski is that in the club that bears the name of Ivan Mihaylov, there were quotes by Ivan Mihaylov. You understand how ridiculous this is… The club itself bears the name of Ivan Mihaylov, and this was approved by the Ministry of Justice. It is quite normal for there to be quotes by him hanging on the walls inside the club. It is most normal to have a quote from the person the club is named after inside and that cannot be discriminatory. (ed.-„The efforts of the fictional Macedonian nation to lie to the world are in vain, the truth will prevail, your Ivan Mihaylov".)
- The case has been going on for two years now, and Ljupcho Georgievski has lost his job. How does he live…
- Yes, Ljupcho is currently unemployed. Explain to yourself why… Look, discriminatory actions have been taken against Ljupcho. What is happening is that we have a person who is accused of “different thinking“. We had a similar case years ago in the Strasbourg court for the association “Ratko“ (ed. - pseudonym of Ivan Mihaylov), which was banned in 2001. The Strasbourg court ruled that the ban is inadmissible, and the authorities in North Macedonia are clearly simply bothered by the name of Ivan Mihaylov. And now, like in that case, we will file a case in Strasbourg again.
- What arguments does the prosecution present...
- So far, the prosecution's witnesses have been the man who set the club on fire - Lambe Alabakovski, and a retired partisan who was a participant in the People's Liberation Struggle (NOB) from 1941-1945 against the Bulgarian administration. Both of them have nothing constructive to say on the topic of Ivan Mihaylov and against Ljubcho Georgievski. Therefore, we expect our witness - Ljubcho Georgievski - to provide clarity on the topic, because he was not only a prime minister, but is also historically well-acquainted with the life and work of Ivan Mihaylov. Ljubcho Georgievski - as a former chairman of VMRO-DPMNE and a former prime minister, can provide more clarity on the life and work of Ivan Mihaylov. After all, VMRO-DPMNE is the successor to the historical VMRO, led by Ivan Mihaylov. Imagine how distorted everything was after the prosecutors launched the thesis in court and wanted to introduce the fact that the club was opened on a Jewish holiday intentionally, to show that it had something to do with fascism. Of course, this claim did not hold up in court, it was rejected.