4 officers are arrested for escaping a convict

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia authorities said Saturday that four prison officers, including a police commander, have been arrested under suspicion of having helped a prisoner convicted of murder escape while being transferred to a hospital.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the commander in charge of external security at the capital Skopje’s main prison of Idrizovo and three officers “helped and enabled the convict Bekim Memeti to escape.” They are charged with “illegal release of a person deprived of liberty.”

According to the prosecution, Memeti injured himself by cutting the palm of his hand late Thursday and, following the police commander’s instructions, he was sent without an escort to an emergency treatment center instead of being treated in the prison’s infirmary.

If a convict requires treatment in an outside facility, prison authorities will request a police officer escort.

Memeti was also placed in a middle position, against all the rules. He took the pistol from one prison officer and began shooting inside the van. The driver was injured and Memeti demanded that the vehicle be stopped. Mehmeti fled with a car parked in the front of the van, and no prison officers pursued him.

A magistrate ordered three of the four prison officers to be held in detention for eight days. The fourth officer was prohibited from leaving the country. The investigation is ongoing and the custody could be extended pending a trial.

Police have issued a warrant for Memeti’s arrest in an effort to find him. Memeti was sentenced in 2016 to 20 years imprisonment for murder. He has already escaped once.