Ljupco Kocevski – the SDSM loyalist named as chief state prosecutor – resigned today shortly before Parliament was supposed to vote on his removal from office. In a statement to the press, Kocevski said that “he is disappointed with the obvious disrespect for the principles of the rule of law”.

Over the past month, the ruling coalition has been accusing Kocevski of failing to act on dozens of clear criminal allegations about top officials from the SDSM-DUI regime. The call for his dismissal cites “unauthorized disclosure of information related to court cases that violated his obligation to protect the secrecy of court procedures” and “undermining the authority of the office of state prosecutors by failing to act in accordance to his constitutional and legal obligations”.