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Over the waste situation in the capital, the Skopje Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation and proposed a detention measure against the Skopje-based Komunalna Higiena (Communal Hygiene) PE’s Acting Director, Sabahudin Rustemi, and Aki Saiti, who’s also part of the PE’s management, that is, he heads the Waste Management Sector. The Interior Ministry, on its part, charged on Tuesday the two persons with endangering the environment and nature with waste (Article 230 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code). According to authorities, the two people violated the Waste Management Law and the PE’s basic activity, that is, regular collection and transport of communal waste on the capital’s territory. As it was explained in press-release, by not conducting full supervision over waste collection and transport activities, as well as by irregularly managing waste, they enabled, in October, small landfills to be created on public and traffic surfaces, near foreseen bins, and thus significantly damaged the quality of air, water, and soil, and endangered the life of people in terms of infectious or other diseases being caused. Prosecutors added that such suspicions had been confirmed during extraordinary inspection supervision activities carried out by the Office, as well as through an expert opinion received from the Public Health Institute. Also on Tuesday, while he was being taken to the Criminal Court by police, Rustemi, asked by a journalist why there hadn’t been cleanup activities with regards to the garbage in Skopje, stated that everything was clean. Several hours later, a judge in the previous procedure accepted the 30-day detention proposal against both suspects. Rustemi also resigned as the PE’s head.
