Ziadin Sela, MP and leader of the Alliance for Albanians party, on Monday told the Skopje Criminal Court that when a hostile mob stormed the Macedonian parliament last April, he was severely attacked by several people whom he heard calling for his death.
While being beaten, he recalled hearing verbal threats such as: “I heard, Sela, where you will go, we are going to kill you,” Sela told the court.
The last thing he remembered, he said, was when, after receiving several blows, he was down on his knees, trying to protect his head and body from the severe beating.
Sela said he regained consciousness some two hours after the attack, which took place in the parliament’s press room.
By then, some people who had tried to save him and hide him from the angry crowd had moved him to a more secluded office.
When the police came to his aid, Sela said, they disguised him as a wounded police officer and managed to get him out of the parliament, which was still overrun by the angry crowd.
He said that in the night after the attack, hospital scans to his head showed that he was still in mortal danger and that his condition only stabilized the next morning.
He said that due to his head injuries he has only partial memory of the entire event, still takes medications for headaches and that the attack had damaged his memory.
During the testimony, the MP faced the alleged attackers in the court. He described the appearance of two of his attackers, but said he was convinced that video footage from the parliament surveillance cameras and the media would help the identification.
On May 10, the prosecution launched the first investigation into two individuals, a father and a son, who were seen on video footage dragging Sela unconscious and covered in blood through the corridors of the building.
The prosecution eventually charged ten people with Sela’s attempted murder. If found guilty, they face at least five years in jail. At the beginning of the trial in January 26, all the accused pleaded not guilty.
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