North Macedonia jails 16 over violent storming of parliament
A former North Macedonia interior minister was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday for his part in orchestrating a mob attack on parliament in 2017, one of 16 people given jail terms over the violence.
Scores were injured in the bloody rioting that erupted on April 27, 2017 when around 100 nationalist demonstrators, including masked men, stormed the Skopje assembly at the culmination of a post-election political crisis.
Several lawmakers were beaten, including Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev, who went on to become prime minister and pass the historic name deal with Greece that added "North" to former Macedonia's name, ending a long-running dispute.
A court in Skopje on Friday sentenced the 16 defendants, including some police officers, giving them prison terms ranging from seven to 18 years for "terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security".
The longest sentence was given to former Interior Minister and then-public security bureau chief Mitko Chavkov.
"The ..