Council of Public Prosecutors launches procedure to select new head of PTHPNKOK

Islam Abazi’s mandate as head prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption (PTHPNKOK) is nearing its end. Abazi was elected to the position in October 2022.

At its 50th session, scheduled to take place today, the Council of Public Prosecutors is expected to establish the bodies that will oversee the process of selecting the new head of PTHPNKOK.

The agenda calls for the establishment of the Commission for Preparing the List of Candidates and the Commission for Selecting a Public Prosecutor-in-Chief of PTHPNKOK.

So far, five public prosecutors have submitted their candidacies for the post. The chair of the Council of Public Prosecutors, Bashkim Besimi, confirmed to AIM that the candidates are High Public Prosecutor Jove Cvetanovski; Trajče Pelivanov, a prosecutor at the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and former prosecutor at the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office; Lidija Raičevič, a prosecutor at the Skopje Special Public Prosecutor’s Office; and PTHPNKOK prosecutors Iskra Haxhi-Vasileva and Faton Azizi.

The call for the selection of the head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Corruption was published on the basis of the Law on the Council of Public Prosecutors and the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Public prosecutors are eligible to apply if, by the time of application, they have at least six years of uninterrupted experience in the prosecutorial function and have received positive evaluations during the past three years.

The election of the new head prosecutor of PTHPNKOK is scheduled to take place on October 28, 2026.