Macedonian Ex Interior Minister Faces 8 Years in Jail

Ljube Boskovski (R) is pictured voting at a polling station in Skopje, Macedonia, on 22 March 2009, when he was the sole independent presidential elections candidate. EPA/BGNES.

The leader of the political party "United for Macedonia" Ljube Boskoski, former Interior Minister of Macedonia, has been arrested in Skopje.

Boskoski faces 8 years in jail on charges of racketeering and illegal funding for his party's election campaign, which got less than 1% of the vote in Macedonia's general elections on Sunday.

He was arrested by police late on Monday while leaving the Skopje restaurant "Vodenica".

According to police sources, Ljube Boskoski carried a large paper bag with at least EUR 100 000 euros in cash. 

The "United for Macedonia" leader also had a hand gun and several passports in his car. Boskoski was followed by the police who used special surveillance devices, detecting payments of EUR 10-20 000 that he received from a single person several times.

Several years ago, Boskoski was detained by the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague for crimes committed during the 2001 war in Macedonia; he was released four years later.

Boskoski was the Interior Minister in the Cabinet of Ljupco Georgievski in 1998-2002, where current Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski was also a minister.

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