Human Rights of FYROM

[Ptolemy]

Ok this thread will be solely about the human rights on FYROM.

Skopje February 16, 2006


MIRJANA NAJCEVSKA - THERE ARE NO SECRET PRISON IN MACEDONIA, ONLY SECRET POLICE HOUSES

"There are no secret prison in Macedonia, but only secret police houses where people are been tortured", Helsinki Committee's (HC) President, Mirjana Najcevska told "Makfax", commenting on the case of Kaled el-Masri.

"The Council of Europe is wrong when saying that the operations of the State Security Service (DBK) in the former system were carried out in secret prisons. There are only few such covert prisons in our country. Those practices were conducted in secret houses", said Najcevska. She added that this practice is still in place. "The police has set up such secret houses throughout Macedonia.
After being tortured there, some people manage to come out of those houses, some do not", claims Najcevska

A1 TV says that Najcevska denied that HC holds direct proofs to back its claims,but informed that during the past 10 years 15 citizens have reported to have been interrogated by plain clothes police officers in houses and apartments, not in police stations. "There have been conformations of such activities by lawyers and people that used to cooperate with the police. This ways of conduct of conducting interrogation in apartments and houses has been inherited from the former system, but since then, the number of such houses has been reduced", Najcevska said. She added Khaled el-Masri's case could prove to be of benefit for the country, saying that it could open the issue on the secret methods
used in the work of the Macedonian police.

"Dnevnik" says the Interior Ministry denied Najcevska's accusations on secret police houses. "The Interior Ministry denies using houses or apartments in conducting police activities", Chief of Interior Minister Ljubomir Mhajlovski's Cabinet, Goran Pavlovski, said.

DS leader, Pavle Trajanov, (former high official in the Interior Ministry) said the Ministry has always been using secret apartments for holding talks with its informers and associates. Quoting former Interior Ministry officials "Dnevnik" says that the Ministry owns around 20 secret apartments throughout the country, whereas the National Security Agency (DBK) owns additional 20. The apartments are registered on employees in the Interior Ministry of close relatives of theirs. The interrogations conducted in the apartments are being recoded by cameras hidden in TV sets. "Guests" in those apartments are most often police associates, informers, foreign diplomats and employees in foreign intelligence services. The police sometimes use luxurious apartments for blackmailing or compromising public figures, "Dnevnik" says.

[Ptolemy]

Skopje January 31, 2006


MILS Supplement
"Utrinski Vesnik" January 27, 2005

""HALT IN HUMAN RIGHTS IMPROVEMENTS"

The situation concerning the respect of the human rights in the country has not improved in comparison to the year before, consequently leading to a wider gap between Macedonia and the developed countries, Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said. The Committee's annual report blames the poor economic and social situation as the main impediment in practicing the human rights and liberties in Macedonia. "The state failed to procure conditions for their promotion, whereas the governmental authorities neglected the importance of the citizens' interests", Helsinki Committee's President, Mirjana Najcevska, said.

She added the Committee last year registered plunge in social and economic rights, less equality, less freedom, but more politics. Hence, the new laws on social and economic rights offer more restriction and workers' obligations, rather than security and protection. Last year will be remembered for the downward spiral of equality and the legalization of it, such as the case with the Law on MPs in the part referring to the conditions for their retirement, as well as for the unequal treatment of electricity consumers, the selective approach toward knocking down illegally constructed buildings and the privileged attitude shown toward some syndicates.
The Committee's report accuses the authorities of failing to secure better protection for inmates serving time in penitentiary facilities. Moreover, it
denounces the failure by the Public Prosecution to do its job, and accuse the courts of being highly inefficient.
The Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman did not adequately perform their duties, introducing more politics, rather than rights, in their work, the Committee said. Answering a question about the Committee's stand on Khaled el-Masri case and the silence practice by the state institutions on the matter, Najcevska said; "The state has always been defending itself by maintain silence on such issues. It has always been the state's practice whenever involved in some incident to bring down a protective curtain of silence, but due to the international community's interest in the case, I believe that this tactics would not be of much help".

[Ptolemy]

Skopje February 22, 2006


HELSINKI COMMITTEE ROASTS THE OMBUDSMAN AND POLICE UNIT "ALFA"

The Macedonian Helsinki Committee (HC) has severely criticized the work of the Ombudsman and of the police unit "Alfa" in its report on human rights dating from December 2005 and January 2006. HC claims that there have been overwhelming evidence showing that police unit "Alfa" has been directly involved in violation of human rights and liberties, especially the rights and liberties of a certain category of people, such as the drug addicts. HC officials informed that the Committee has been continually receiving complaints on the work of the police unit "Alfa", adding that the Interior Ministry has been reluctant to issue information on the unit's way of conduct. Channel 5 TV says Interior Ministry officials disapproved of HC's critics, saying "Alfa" unit has been working highly transparently.

Referring to the Ombudsman, HC said he only serves as a state organ that only performers "cosmetic" interventions and does not respond to citizens' complaints. "The function Ombudsman has been performed by a man with clear political affiliations, who only wishes to protect the state and its interests.
Being under direct parties' influence he does not conduct any control over the state organs nor contributes toward protection of citizens' human rights", HC's President, Mirjana Najcevska, said.

Channel 5 TV says Ombudsman Ixhet Memeti declined to comment on HC's accusations, saying they lacked arguments and facts. I have no time to deal with such na‹ve and see-through political issues, as I have more important things to do, such as to help the citizens", Memeti told Channel 5 TV.

[Ptolemy]

ERRC and Partners Testify at First Macedonian Roma Torture Case Heard at Strasbourg Court

Budapest, Strasbourg, Skopje, 20 January 2006. Yesterday, the ERRC participated in oral argument at the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg in the first case against Macedonia involving Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Article 3 prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

On 16 April 1998, Mr. Pejrusan Jasar, a Macedonian national of Romani ethnic origin from Stip, was in a local bar where gambling took place. One
of the losing gamblers complained that the dice was fixed, drew a firearm, and fired several gunshots. Several police officers were called to the bar. Mr. Jasar maintains that police officers grabbed him by his hair and forcibly placed him in a police van. He was then taken to a local police
station. During his detention in police custody, he was kicked in the head, punched and beaten with a truncheon by a police officer. The medical report taken right after Mr. Jasar was released the next morning stated that he had sustained numerous injuries to his head, hand and back.

In May 1998, Mr. Jasar, represented by local attorney Mr. Jordan Madzunarov, in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC),
filed a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor against an unidentified police officer. More than seven and a half years later, no steps were taken to investigate the complaint. Mr. Jasar also brought civil proceedings for damages against the State. These were dismissed in October
1999.

Having exhausted available domestic remedies, the ERRC filed a claim on behalf of Mr. Jasar against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 1 February 2001. The fact that the Macedonian government failed to explain in a satisfactory way the injuries of Mr. Jasar, and that his criminal
complaint was not followed by a thorough investigation, constitute violations of Article 3 of the Convention, according to his attorneys. The
State's failure to investigate his complaint for more than 7.5 years is a breach of his fundamental right to an effective remedy, as guaranteed by
Article 13 of the Convention. The case also highlights the deficiencies of the Macedonian legal framework, which by not providing effective remedy against the inactivity of the public prosecutor, prevents the access to the investigatory procedure.

This case is one of the many similar incidents documented by ERRC and local human rights organizations indicating the impunity of the police in
Macedonia, particularly where Roma are at issue.

The Civil Society Research Center based in Skopje and the Brussels-based law firm of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr LLP provided
additional legal analysis supporting the allegations of Mr. Jasar.

For further information on the case, please contact Dianne Post., ERRC's Legal Director (dianne.post@errc.org ; +36-1-413-2226)
and/or Anita Danka, Staff Attorney (anita.danka@errc.org; +36-1-413-2221).