Macedonian court upholds jailing of ex-PM

SKOPJE: An appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court’s sentencing of Macedonia’s former prime minister Nikola Gruevski to two years in prison for fixing a tender for the government to buy a bullet-proof Mercedes Benz. Gruevski was sentenced in May after a trial heard he had used his influence over a member of the tender commission to promote one car dealer to supply the Mercedes. Gruevski received a kickback from the dealer, prosecutors said.

The case is the first of five against Gruevski brought by a special prosecutor appointed to investigate corruption allegations against the former government as part of an agreement among political parties brokered by the European Union. The court said on Friday the ex-prime minister’s appeal was “unfounded”. The start of his prison term is pending a court order. “This is a classical political persecution,” Gruevski told reporters after the ruling was announced on Friday.