Macedonia Moves Forward With Amnesty Law
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| The storming of parliament last year left some 100 people injured, including the then opposition leader, now PM Zoran Zaev. Archive photo: EPA/STR |
The Macedonian parliament’s so-called committee on reconciliation finished drafting a law on Wednesday offering an amnesty to those who took part in last year’s violent rampage in parliament.
If matters go as planned, the law will soon find itself on the list for speedy adoption.
The draft law will offer amnesty only to those who did not personally commit any violent acts in the rampage and who did not organize the events, an opposition VMRO DPMNE MP, Zekir Ramcilovic, told the media on Wednesday.
Ramcilovic, who is a member of the committee that worked on the draft, insisted that the amnesty will not diminish the importance of the ongoing trial against 33 suspects accused of participating in the violence of April 27, 2017.
“This way, we think the process [the ongoing trial] which should provide answers about what happened on April 27 will continue, and we will have a legal ending where justice finds its place,” he said.
Meanwhile, the MP added: “We will have an amnesty for some of the people who were part of the events, and so we are making the first step towards relaxing the divisions in society that emerged after this event”.
The parliamentary committee will likely soon submit the draft for adoption at a plenary session, under a shortened procedure.
The planned “selective” amnesty has drawn much criticism for the country’s Social Democrat Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev.
Critics accuse him of trading the rule of law for opposition votes in order to reach the political goal of implementing the historic agreement with Greece on the country’s name.
This would then unlock Macedonia’s stalled Euro-Atlantic integration process, allowing it to join NATO and open talks on membership with the EU. Zaev has repeated that he is willing to “pay a political price” for the amnesty.
The body that worked on the amnesty was formed on the initiative of the eight opposition MPs, seven of whom are now excluded from VMRO DPNNE.
This is because in October they provided Zaev with crucial support for the start of the parliamentary procedure on the Greek deal – while conditioning their further support on progress in reconciliation that would include an amnesty.
Three of the eight opposition MPs are among those on trial for involvement in the attack on parliament.
The final vote on the constitutional changes that form part of the Greek deal is expected on January 15.
The opposition VMRO DPMNE leadership is not part of this reconciliation process. It has demanded an amnesty for all the defendants in the trial over the rampage in parliament.
Read more:
Macedonia’s Amnesty Caught Between Law and Pragmatism
Macedonia Ruling Party ‘Coordinated’ Parliament Violence, Trial Hears
Macedonia PM Backs Amnesty Deal ‘in Principle’
Uranija Pirovska: ‘Zaev is Disappointing People’s Expectations’
