Five of the accused of illegally issuing passports to foreign nationals in the “Double” case pleaded guilty at Wednesday’s hearing before the Skopje Basic Criminal Court.
At the beginning, the procedure was separated for one of the defendants, who was not present due to illness, but her lawyer announced a guilty plea, as well as for the other five of the 11 defendants.
Defendants Denis Barufi, Alen Licina, Gjorge Velkov, Faruk Bilja and Raif Miftari, said today in court that they feel guilty for the crime and voluntarily plead guilty.
The case is being handled by Judge Olja Ristevska, and the prosecution is represented by Spasenka Andonova.
Eleven people are accused in the case, ten of whom are employees of the Department for Administrative Affairs in the Ministry of Interior, are charged with having committed the crime of prolonged abuse of official position and authority, and one person is accused of incitement.
