Detention Extended For Macedonian TV Mogul

A Macedonian court on Friday extended the pre-trial detention of the owner of the pro-opposition TV station, A1 TV.

After spending almost 30 days in prison, the court ordered another 30 days' detention for Velija Ramkovski and 13 others close to him charged with serious financial crime.

The court said it suspected that they might influence the ongoing investigation if they got out.

"This is unheard-of. We will step up our appeal for release before the appeals court," Ramkovski’s lawyer, Miroslav Vujic, said on Friday.

Osman Kadriu, head of Macedonia's Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, urged the release of the detained suspects.

"There is no dilemma here, the accused should be released," Kadriu said.

"Some of the detainees have small children and two of them are pregnant," he added, "and they have no way of fleeing or of influencing the witnesses".

Macedonian human rights activist Mirjana Najcvevska also urged the release of the detained persons. “Detention is used in Macedonia as a means of political punishment in situations when there is problematic evidence that may cause the case of the prosecution to crumble," she maintained.

Ramkovski has been at the centre of a political storm since police and financial inspectors raided the building of his TV station on November 25.

Police came in search of alleged financial misdemeanors committed by other companies of his registered at the same address. But the TV station and Ramkovski himself accused them of intimidation.

The police arrested Ramkovski and his business associates on December 23 on suspicion of money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes worth some 12 million euros.

Ramkovski maintained that Macedonia’s ruling VMRO DPMNE party, led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, was looking for excuses to shut down A1 and jail him because his media outlets had started attacking government policies in the past two years.

Although not registered under his name, Ramkovski has said he owns three daily newspapers, Spic, Vreme and Koha e Re.