Amnesty International Report 1999 - Macedonia

MACEDONIA

(THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF)

Two prisoners of conscience began serving prison sentences imposed in 1997. There were reports of torture or ill-treatment by police.

There were at least seven explosions outside public buildings; none caused casualties. Responsibility for some of the explosions was attributed to the Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës, Kosovo Liberation Army, (see Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of, entry), an ethnic Albanian armed political group in Kosovo province of the neighbouring Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

In March a parliamentary commission published a report on the events in Gostivar in July 1997, when police shot dead two men and beat hundreds of ethnic Albanian demonstrators, causing the death of one man (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The report concluded that police officers had "overstepped their authority". It called for investigations by the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the incidents; criminal investigations into the responsibility of individual officers; and reforms in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. No criminal or disciplinary actions were reported to have been initiated by the end of the year.

In July the mandate of the UN peace-keeping force unpredep (UN Preventive Deployment Force) was extended until January 1999 in response to concern about the situation in Kosovo province of the FRY.

Parliamentary elections held in October gave the largest number of seats to a coalition of the former opposition party, the vmro-dpmne, and a recently formed party, Demokratska Alternativa (DA), Democratic Alternative. In November a new coalition government was formed, comprising ministers appointed by the vmro-dpmne, DA and the Partia Demokratike e Shqiptarëve, Democratic Party of Albanians.

In February the Court of Appeal in Skopje reduced the prison sentence of the Mayor of Gostivar, Rufi Osmani, from 13 years and eight months to seven years. He had been convicted in 1997 in connection with the July events in Gostivar after an unfair trial (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The sentence of the President of the Gostivar municipal council, Refik Dauti, who was convicted at the same trial, was reduced from three to two years' imprisonment. In May the prison sentences of the President of the neighbouring Tetovo municipal council, Bebi Bexheti, and the Mayor, Alajdin Demiri, were reduced on appeal from two and a half years to two years. All four men were ethnic Albanians and began serving their sentences during the year. Refik Dauti and Bebi Bexheti were prisoners of conscience. In September the sentence of Ico Gavrilov, who had been convicted in 1997 for stamping on the national flag, was reduced on appeal from three to two years' imprisonment (see Amnesty International Report 1998). He reportedly remained free at the end of the year for medical reasons. In December parliament passed a law granting amnesty to the four ethnic Albanian political prisoners and other prisoners not sentenced on political grounds. The law had not been signed by the President by the end of the year.

In September, 17 ethnic Albanian men were arrested by police in several locations on suspicion of possessing arms or being responsible for explosions at public buildings. One man was killed near Kicevo in unclear circumstances in the course of a police operation to arrest the men. There was concern that the detainees were tortured or ill-treated during interrogation. For example, Shaban Arifi, from the Kumanovo area, alleged that he was beaten in Kumanovo police station before being taken to a town, which he presumed to be Skopje, where he was further beaten during 24 hours' interrogation. He was released without charge. His son, Arif, who was also arrested and later charged with possessing arms, said that he was transferred from Kumanovo blindfolded in the boot of a car, then beaten during 30 hours' interrogation.

There were other reports of torture or ill-treatment by police. For example, in August a group of around five Roma were allegedly kicked and beaten with truncheons in the police station in Stip after arrest. In September police arresting journalist Marjan Gjurovski in Skopje late at night reportedly banged his head against a car deliberately, breaking his teeth. He stated that police then threatened him at a police station with further violence if he did not sign a confession. He was released the same night after the police claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity.

The police appeared to be more willing than previously to acknowledge human rights violations and to initiate investigations. For example, criminal charges were brought in November against a police officer in connection with the beating of Kristijan Ilievski in Skopje in October.

In December Amnesty International wrote to the authorities calling for independent, impartial and thorough investigations into a number of reports of ill-treatment by police.