Macedonia confiscates passport of Gostivar court president over alleged €8,000 bribe

Macedonian prosecutors from the Organized Crime and Corruption Unit ordered an investigation of two judicial officials in Gostivar. V.D., president of the Basic Court in Gostivar, and B.D., a court administrator, are accused of receiving €8,000 and €800 respectively to intervene in judicial decisions between January 2023 and 2025. The alleged influence was aimed at judges of the Basic Court and the Appellate Court in Gostivar to overturn or repeat rulings that were unfavorable to certain parties.

The court has confiscated the president’s passport and imposed precautionary measures on both officials, requiring regular reporting to authorities, temporary seizure of travel documents, bans on crossing borders and on performing work related to the alleged crime. The court did not impose stricter measures, such as detention, because the prosecution did not request it.