Kumanovo Court Orders Detention Over Threat to Mickoski

A court in Kumanovo has ordered eight days of detention for a man suspected of threatening North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski over social media, the country’s Interior Ministry announced. The case reached the pretrial judge after the public prosecutor’s office, citing the suspect’s history of violence, asked that he remain in custody while the investigation continues.

According to the ministry’s statement, the suspect posted a threatening comment directly on the prime minister’s social media profile on September 11, 2026. “The suspect posted a threatening comment on the profile of the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia on a social network on September 11, 2026,” the Interior Ministry said. A criminal complaint against him was filed by the Cybercrime Department of the Kumanovo Internal Affairs Sector, working together with the Cybercrime Sector and the Criminal Police Directorate of the Public Security Bureau, over reasonable suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of endangering safety under Article 144, paragraph 5 of North Macedonia’s Criminal Code.

The pretrial judge then accepted the prosecution’s request. “The pretrial judge ordered the suspect held in detention for eight days,” the Interior Ministry said. The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kumanovo sought detention over the risk of flight and the possibility that the suspect could repeat the offense, while neither institution disclosed the content of the message sent to the prime minister.

Prosecution Cites Suspect’s History of Violence

The public prosecutor at the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kumanovo did not base the detention request on the message alone. The prosecution’s statement said the “suspect insulted and threatened the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia in messages sent over social media,” before laying out the core of its reasoning, which centers on other criminal offenses the suspect is accused of:

“Given the circumstances in which the offense was committed, the risk of flight, and in particular the fact that the suspect appears as the perpetrator of other criminal offenses in the area of violent crime (violence, usury, and a number of misdemeanors for disturbing public peace and order), the public prosecutor submitted a request to the pretrial judge for a detention measure to be ordered.”

Usury, the criminal offense of unlawfully lending money at an exorbitant interest rate, is distinct from extortion as a separate offense, and the prosecution is charging the suspect with the former, not the latter. The prosecution also describes him as “a confrontational person who constantly gets into arguments, issues threats, and takes part in physical altercations with people who file complaints against him,” which it says creates a real risk that such incidents could escalate into more serious crimes.

Discrepancies Over the Suspect’s Village and Age

Two domestic outlets that reported on the case differ on some details about the suspect. Telegraf describes him as a 39-year-old man from the village of Cerkezi near Kumanovo, while Kurir spells his village as Cekrezi, also in the Kumanovo area. The Interior Ministry’s statement did not give the suspect’s age or the exact name of his village, so both details rely solely on the two outlets’ reporting.

The case now rests with the pretrial judge in Kumanovo, and the eight-day detention gives prosecutors time to decide whether to indict the suspect for endangering the prime minister’s safety, potentially with additional charges based on his prior record.