Following several delays, the Basic Court Skopje I resumes the case against the 29 members of the armed group that attacked Macedonian security forces in Kumanovo a year ago.
Delays in the trial were caused by problems regarding the provision a large enough courtroom for both the group and for the audience.
In early May the court decided to merge another case that is filed against eight persons accused of acting as logistics to the group.
With the new defendants, the case has now moved to the grand hall of the Supreme Court. The group is charged with terrorism, over indications that they were planning large-scale attacks against civilian targets in Kumanovo and other cities, with the aim of sparking a wider confrontation.
Eight Macedonian police officers and ten members of the armed group were killed in the fierce fighting on May 9-10 last year, after the group fortified itself in a southern neighborhood of Kumanovo known as 'Diva Naselba'.
Over 30 police officers were also wounded in the fighting.
The group was led by mostly Kosovan commanders and comprised of both Kosovan and Macedonian Albanian fighters, many of them who formerly fought in wars across the Balkans and in the Middle East.
Before moving to Kumanovo, the attackers briefly seized a police post on the border with Kosovo and issued political threats to the Macedonian Government.