Amnesty for Storming Parliament
More resultsIntroduction
The Amnesty Law exempts from criminal prosecution those suspected of having committed crimes related to events when around 300 people stormed the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to prevent the election of Talat Xhaferi as president on 27 April 2017. It also terminates criminal proceedings and exempts beneficiaries from serving a prison sentence.
- Country
- North Macedonia
- Sector
- Public institutions
Description of the law
The Amnesty Law exempts from criminal prosecution those suspected of having committed crimes related to events when around 300 people stormed the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to prevent the election of Talat Xhaferi as president on 27 April 2017. It also terminates criminal proceedings and exempts beneficiaries from serving a prison sentence.
The attack on parliament was the culmination of a two-year political crisis. This ended on 31 May 2017 with the formation of a new government comprised of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Alliance of Albanians. The new government was led by the President of SDSM, Zoran Zaev.
After the events and a long debate over the process of political reconciliation, political actors in the country agreed to pass the Amnesty Law. The law was adopted in December 2018. It grants amnesty to most of the people who stormed parliament.
Although the law provides a general amnesty in relation to the event, there are a few exceptions in Articles 1(3) and (4). The amnesty does not apply to suspects for whom there is reasonable suspicion that they participated in preparing or organising the events in parliament or those legally convicted of the crimes of association for hostile activity or violence. Neither does it apply to people with a hidden identity who used physical force, perpetrators of violence, those unauthorised to carry weapons or explosives, and those acting in breach of official powers in performing the criminal act of a terrorist threat to the constitutional order.
The Criminal Court of North Macedonia granted amnesty to over 20 people accused of criminal offences related to the event. They were released from further criminal prosecution for crimes committed on 27 April in parliament.
The Criminal Court also rejected 13 requests for amnesty filed by defendants in the criminal case Puch for events in April 2017. The justification was that these defendants had committed criminal acts that are excluded from the Amnesty Law.
During the initial debate on the law, doubts were raised over whether it could be seen as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the opposition on the constitutional amendments needed for the country to change its name. The name change had been proposed in the Prespa Agreement with Greece (see here, here, here, here and here).
Full Law Name
Amnesty for Storming Parliament
Amnesty Law, Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia, No. 233/2018
Type of law
Act of Parliament
Scope of application
Substantive: the Amnesty Law was passed as a result of reconciliation between political parties after the political collision and events in the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia in April 2017.
Personal: perpetrators of crimes committed in relation to the events in parliament on 27 April 2017
Territorial: Republic of North Macedonia
Temporal: limited to the specific event and criminal cases related to storming parliament on 27 April 2017. The law will not be applicable to other cases in the future.
Time of adoption and entering to force
The law was adopted by Parliament on 18 December 2018. On 20 December 2018, it was published in the Official Gazette.
Who drafted it
The law was drafted by a group of twenty-one members of parliament: eight from SDSM, two from the New Social Democratic Party (NSDP), two from the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), three from DUI, one from the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), one from the Socialist Party, one from the National Democratic Revival (RDK) party, one from the Association for Cultural Reunion of the Bosnian People and two independent members of parliament.
Who submitted it to Parliament or to another collective body
The aforementioned group of 21 members of parliament
Relevant developments in the process of adoption that show signs it’s tailor-made
The events occurred during a period of massive protests organised by sympathisers of the main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE. The protesters were against a coalition with Albanian parties as they feared it could result in changes to the unitary nature of the North Macedonian state.
At the same time, the main Albanian party intended to pass a law for official use of Albanian as the second official language in the country. For the Albanian parties, this was an ultimatum for forming a coalition with any party from the Macedonian block to establish the new government.
The raid on parliament occurred at 19:00 on 27 April 2017. Masked men evaded parliament security and one member of parliament opened the main door. The crowd stormed into the press room where the newly elected speaker, Talat Xhaferi, was holding a press conference. The agitators physically assaulted lawmakers and journalists, and inflicted severe bodily harm on Zoran Zaev and Zijadin Sela, leaders of the SDSM and the Alliance for Albanians, two parties in the parliamentary majority, and other members of parliament present in the room.
The police only responded three hours after the raid. Minister of the Interior Agim Nuhiu and eyewitnesses suspected that the Director of the Public Security Bureau Mitko Cavkov deliberately obstructed police attempts to evacuate parliament and rescue the attacked members of parliament. Despite the intrusion and violence, Xhaferi was elected speaker. Two days after the event, police detained several participants in the forcible entry into parliament. The crowd consisted of police and army personnel, former prisoners for serious crimes and inspirers.
On 28 November 2017, the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime charged 30 of the 36 suspects for terrorism endangering the constitutional order and security in relation to the April 27 events. Two members of the group were prosecuted for assisting the suspects.
The main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE requested an amnesty for those indicted for criminal offences relating to the event. The new government’s initial response, led by SDSM, was that an amnesty was unacceptable as it would interfere with the independence of the judiciary system. Negotiations between the opposition VMRO-DPMNE and the governing SDSM lasted over a year-and-a-half. Law professors and the public in general were against amnesty for the offenders because it would not prevent such serious crimes in the future. They were against impunity in general. In the end, the law did not provide general amnesty for all offenders. The Amnesty Law was adopted with 95 votes for and no votes against (see here and here).
Among the first to be granted amnesty were members of parliament Krsto Mukoski, Saso Vasilevski and Ljuben Arnaudov. In exchange, they were
Who adopted it
Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia
Enforcement
The Amnesty Law was enforced in 2019 by the Public Prosecution, which received requests for amnesty and passed them on to the Criminal Court along with a joint opinion by the Prosecution. The Criminal Court granted amnesty to over 20 people accused of criminal offences related to the events in parliament on April 27. They were released from further criminal prosecution for crimes perpetrated on April 27 in the Parliament of North Macedonia.
Initiatives to challenge it and their outcomes
On 4 December 2019, the Constitutional Court, by majority vote of the judges, decided not to initiate a procedure for assessing the constitutionality of Article 1 and Article 2 of the Amnesty Law. The initiative was proposed by Mitko Cavkov, one of the suspects in the case.
Cavkov submitted the initiative on four grounds: deprivation of an important constitutional right and the right to freedom, which comes immediately after the right to life; discrimination in the Amnesty Law; whether the right guaranteed Article 9 of the Constitution; and whether all the accused were treated in the same way.
Affected sector
Public institutions
Direct beneficiaries and related networks
The law benefited those under reasonable doubt of conducting criminal offences on 27 April in the Macedonian Parliament and those charged with crimes related to this event.
Socio-economic impact
N/A
Impact on rule of law
Is there any corruption case that is linked to the tailor made law?
N/A
Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this database. All information is believed to be correct as of December 2020. Nevertheless, Transparency International cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of its use for other purposes or in other contexts.
