Three people filmed the Thursday trial against Zahir Bekjiri-Caus and his brother Imer, both suspected in the 'Affairs Factory' case, charged for printing false ID cards, passports and other documents, Telegraf.mk has learnt.
After the defense lawyers reacted to this, the persons said they were employed at the Interior Ministry and that they are recording the hearing on the order of a superior.
The defense responded by saying that the Interior Ministry has been recording the trial without authorization, after which the judge ordered them to turn the camera off and erase the recorded material.
The trial against the person known as Caus and his brother is ongoing at the Skopje Criminal Court. At one of the past hearings journalist Ljubisa Arsic was called in the role of a witness. He was the first to publish the affair involving the false ID cards in the Fokus weekly magazine. During his statement, Arsic said he relies on the journalistic code, and refused to reveal the source that had given him 105 ID cards, saying they were used to forge election results.
"I don't want to endanger the citizens, the future whistleblowers of crimes, and to discourage them from reporting. Many sources report the crimes and the corruption cases in the media and not in the institutions. I don't want to leave room for information manipulation, knowing the medium and political context in the country. I don't want to be led into a situation to betray my fellow journalists and the journalist profession. This source remains anonymous," Arsic told the court.
Caus is indicted for the manufacture and supply of weapons intended to commit a crime, forging documents and abuse of personal data.
Currently, he is serving a sentence at the Idrizovo prison for another crime.