On 16 August an explosive device was detonated in Bardovci, Skopje. Two days later, at a press conference, SDSM released footage of the incident and raised a question that, if accurate, is heavier than the explosion itself: why did the public not find out immediately.

From that moment the story stopped being about security and became political.

What the opposition claims

SDSM general secretary Aleksandar Saša Dimitrijević demanded that the Public Prosecutor's Office open an investigation at once. According to the party, the bomb was thrown into a yard connected to Milko Boškovski, an officer in the Interior Ministry's organised crime department.

Citing information from whistleblowers, SDSM claims the attack stems from unfulfilled business deals and kickbacks of 300,000 euros over tenders at the REK power complex and over building land in Skopje. The party also states that the officer had previously been reported for demanding a 200,000-euro bribe, and claims there is a connection to the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. On that basis it is demanding accountability from Interior Minister Pance Toškovski.

What the government replies

VMRO-DPMNE responded the same day with three claims. First, the Interior Ministry did report the incident in its daily bulletin, with photographic evidence. Second, the bomb was not thrown at the officer's home but at his father's. Third, SDSM has no evidence - only „a colourful story and speculation”.

They called the entire opposition statement a product of a „fake news factory”.

What both sides skipped over

Look at what is actually being disputed in those three points. That there was an explosion - not disputed. That the house is connected to an employee of the organised crime department - not disputed. What is disputed is whose house exactly it is and whether it appeared in a bulletin.

That is a difference of address, not of case. If a bomb was thrown into the yard of an organised crime officer's family, the question „is it his house or his father's” is not an answer - it is a footnote.

None of the governing party's three claims touches the substance: whether the kickbacks existed, whether there was a report of a 200,000-euro bribe, and what the prosecution did about it. Those questions are answered by a prosecutor, not a spokesperson.

Who should speak next

SDSM later published the security camera footage as well. The public now has a video of an explosion, two party statements and not a single institutional comment on the substance of the allegations.

If the claims are false, an investigation establishes that, not a press release. If they are true, then the question is not who is more credible in the exchange, but why an explosion connected to a man from the organised crime department reached the public through an opposition party's press conference rather than through the institution that leads that fight.