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MILS NEWS 96-08-26Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 26 August, 1996[01] TRUSHIN: 'STABLE BALKANS WITHOUT RUSSIA - A DIFFICULT THING''The stability of the Balkans, especially of its southern part, will be a difficult thing to achieve without Russia. The increased attention of certain countries in that region should be understood as a political process,' stated Charge d' Affairs Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Macedonia Yuri Petrovic Trushin for radio 'Super' in Ohrid. As 'Makfax' agency reported, in context of the military cooperation, Trushin had underlined that leading officials of Russian and Macedonian defense would meet till the end of this year to sign an agreement which would open new perspectives in the military cooperation and in providing of modern equipment and weapons for the Macedonian Armed Forces.[02] MACEDONIAN-POLISH AGREEMENT ON EDUCATION IN OCTOBERAt a press conference held during the visit of the Polish Education Minister Jezhi Vjatr to Macedonia, reporters were informed that Macedonia and Poland would sign an Agreement on Cooperation in Education in October, when Macedonian Education Minister Sofia Todorova would pay a visit to Warsaw. Todorova said the bilateral cooperation in education was good, especially in the field of linguistics. According to her, the Agreement would offer opportunities for the cooperation to spread to other fields by exchanging professors and students, by contacts between schools, etc.[03] ITALIAN AMBASSADOR ABOUT CREDITING MACEDONIAMacedonian Vice Prime Minister Ljube Trpevski and Italian Ambassador to Macedonia Faustino Troni talked last Friday about the credit line Italy had approved to the Republic of Macedonia and the possibilities for its realization. They also discussed the activities of the two Governments regarding the signing of a bilateral Agreement on the regulation of Macedonian debt to Italy within the framework of the Paris Creditors Club. According to 'Vecer' daily, the Italian Ambassador was interested in the activities referring to the realization of the credit line given by the World Bank for the development of agriculture and private sector in Macedonia. Possibilities for Italian firms to be included in those activities were examined.[04] NEW YORK TALKS POSTPONED DUE TO ELECTIONSMacedonian Foreign Ministry announced that the Greek party had informed them that New York talks on differences about the name of Macedonia were postponed due to forthcoming early Parliamentarian elections in Greece. A new round of talks will be scheduled after the elections.[05] NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE INCIDENT ON MACEDONIAN-BULGARIAN BORDER CROSSING'Bulgarian border authorities had made the control at border crossing 'Gjueshevo' with Macedonia more strict after the incident that happened last Tuesday, when about 300 Macedonian citizens had tried to enter Bulgaria by force,' said Chief Police Officer in Kjustendil Major Emil Metodiev, 'Makfax' agency reported. There have still not been any official announcements about the incident, but 'Nova Makedonija' daily reported an article of the paper 'Bulgaria', which was the first to find out about the incident. According to the paper, 'after nine hours of waiting to cross the border, about 300 Macedonian citizens had broken through the barriers. The police intervened by using rubber nightsticks. After that, the travelers had been put in a line, and the officers managed to complete the passport procedure in a very short time and let the people, whose patience had been obviously close to an end, to cross the border.'Unofficially, 'Nova Makedonija' reported that the reason for breaking through had been the insisting of Bulgarian customs officers (as alleged, well known both to Macedonians and others) for the passengers to bribe them with DM10 each, which is, as alleged, not an unusual thing at this border crossing. To all this, they had added the 'typical arrogance' of the Bulgarian customs officers, 'which is also well known' both to Macedonian and to Bulgarian citizens. According to 'Nova Makedonija', Bulgarian taxi drivers, who were waiting for the Macedonians at the other side of the border, and tradesmen from Kjustendil, whose business had been jeopardized, also had intervened. A number of witnesses, however, stated for 'Nova Makedonija' that Macedonians had protested loudly, but there had been no attempts for the barriers to be pushed away. According to them, Bulgarian policemen used their nightsticks to 'discipline' the crowd. [06] TURKISH KURDS FOUND AT MACEDONIAN-ALBANIAN BORDERDuring their regular control of the inside part of Macedonian-Albanian border, Macedonian police had found a group of ten Turkish Kurds in the village of Spas near the border, 'Makpress' agency reported. The group, which had crossed the border illegally, had been expelled from the country. Meanwhile, Albanian media reported that Albanian police had found, during the last year, two groups of about 60 Kurds, who were trying to enter Macedonia illegally.[07] 'PEACE FORCES' BEGAN THEIR SERVICE IN MACEDONIAThe first seven volunteers of the USA humanitarian agency 'Peace Forces' started their service in Macedonia last Saturday, Macedonian Television reported. They are the first volunteers of this agency who are staying in some of the former Yugoslav republics, and have come to Macedonia following the invitation of the Government. The team includes six teachers of English language and one business adviser, who will live and work in Skopje, Prilep, Bitola, Radovish, Gostivar, Delchevo, Tetovo, Kichevo and Demir Hisar for two years. 'Peace Forces' were established by US President John Kennedy in 1961, as an agency which would offer technical help to other countries.[08] MACEDONIAN CHURCH IN DETROIT DEDICATEDHead of Macedonian Orthodox Church Archbishop Mihail yesterday dedicated the Cathedral 'St. George of Kratovo' in Detroit, USA. The event was attended, according to the local media, by thousands of Macedonians from this and other US cities. Archbishop Mihail will today pay a visit to the Macedonian Orthodox Church of 'St. Nicholas' in Windsor, Canada, where he will do a religious service, and after that meet with Macedonian emigrants.[09] MODERNIZATION OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN MACEDONIAPublic health institutions in Macedonia will, during the following two months, receive equipment and vehicles of about DM 16.5 million, which would significantly improve the quality of health services throughout the country, Macedonian media reported during the weekend. According to Health Minister Ilija Filipche, this will be the biggest investment in Macedonian health in the last few years. The new equipment will be mostly given to the village clinics and to the Policlinic Centre in Skopje, and the money had been obtained by the rational spending of health insurance fund. Equipment will be obtained from 'Siemens' and 'Hellige' - Germany, 'Roche' - Austria, and 'Gambro' - Switzerland, while the vehicles will be products of 'Fiat'.[10] CLOSING OF SKOPJE AIRPORT POSTPONEDThe closing of Skopje Airport due to reconstruction, previously planned for September 1, will be postponed for September 24, or even later, Macedonian Ministry of Transport announced. The reason stated was additional calculation of the damages the country and passengers would suffer from the closing.[11] INDEPENDENT TRADE UNIONS ASK FOR A REVISION OF PRIVATIZATION'We will initiate a revision of the way the privatization had been carried out not only of the glass factory in Skopje, but of all the other enterprises in Macedonia.' This was said at a press conference of the Independent Trade Unions of Macedonia, which President Blagoja Ivanovski said that 'the Privatization Agency is the one which does not respect the privatization regulations'. He said he would meet Prime Minister Crvenkovski tomorrow to talk about the jeopardized rights of the workers. Atanas Lefterov, Secretary of the Independent Trade Unions said the privatization of the glass factory had been carried out irregularly, as it was done by a programme of the Executive Board, while the only organ in charge of that was the enterprise Assembly.[12] ALBANIAN PARTIES REQUIRE AN ANSWER ABOUT THE 'DISPUTABLE' MUNICIPALITIESThe Government had still not adopted the expected Draft Law on Territorial Dividing of Macedonia, which was expected to be submitted to the Parliament immediately after the summer vacations, 'Nova Makedonija' read. According to the paper, the reason was that representatives of Albanian political parties had insisted on certain changes. 'We mostly object to the solutions offered for the municipalities of Tetovo, Gostivar, Struga, Kichevo and Skopje. We find the offered way of dividing would disturb the rhythm of life of the citizens and certain relations.More precisely, it would affect the ratio of nationalities in the newly planned municipalities, which would seriously affect the electoral units, as well as the results of the local and Parliamentarian elections,' said Mersim Polozhani, a member of PDP and Macedonian Vice Minister of Justice. 'Nova Makedonija' read that 'the nervous reaction of Albanian parties was a result of the fear from losing the towns in western part of Macedonia, where the Albanians are the majority'. As alleged, Albanians were also worried about Skopje City Assembly, where PDP has about 10 members. 'The new territorial dividing proposed by the Ministry of Justice suggests 45 new municipalities to be formed on the territories of above mentioned ones. The demographic logic of it says that Albanian political subject will not be able to play a dominant role in the governing there. This reveals the motives of PDP and PDPA, i.e. explains why they are asking, for example, 11 villages in the area of Gostivar to be re-included in Gostivar Municipality,' read 'Nova Makedonija'. [13] VMRO-DP CALLS ON JOINT APPEARANCE OF THE OPPOSITION'VMRO-Democratic Party calls on the opposition parties to adopt a joint platform for the local elections, so that they oppose the currently governing parties successfully,' said the President of VMRO-DP Vladimir Golubovski at a press conference last Friday. He said there was a possibility for his party to form a coalition with some opposition parties, pointing out VMRO-DPMNE and the Liberal Party as two of them. He also stated that 'the Law on Local Elections had been adjusted to the fixed electoral body of ruling SDSM, and had calculated the inability of the opposition to appear joined at the elections and to oppose them'.Commenting the statements of some Albanian parties in Macedonia that they would create a parallel government, Golubovski said the Government was responsible to openly say whether such thing is possible. He said the policy regarding the minorities had been badly carried out and required 'presidential elections to be organized simultaneously with the local ones, if the President of the Republic was the weak point in those issues.' [14] 35TH STRUGA POETRY EVENINGS FINISHEDDuring the 35th Struga Poetry Evenings, many poets were given prizes, such as: Svetlana Hristova Jocic from Macedonia, Bozana Sprascova from the Czech Republic, Kostadinka Gjorgjevska - a Macedonian emigrant from Germany, Anatolij Parpara from Russia, etc. President Kiro Gligorov of Macedonia received the participants in his residence in Ohrid, and Macedonian Culture Minister Slobodan Unkovski met with his Montenegrin counterpart Gojko Chelebic to discuss the Agreement on Cultural, Scientific and Educational Cooperation. Struga Poetry Evenings were closed by an international poetry meeting 'Bridges', when Japanese poet Makoto Ooka was crowned with the 'Golden Wreath'.MILS SUPPLEMENT[15] 'Short Investigation, Corrected Imprisonment'('Nova Makedonija', 26 August, 1996)Besides the Criminal Code, one of the most important legal projects anticipated by the reform of Macedonian legislation is the Law on Criminal Procedure, which should soon be discussed by the Parliament. Ministry of Justice had required the Law to be submitted to an expertise of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and it is expected to take place on September 16. The Law contains about 550 regulations, and is an attempt to harmonize the criminal procedure with the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and with the international standards of human rights. Therefore, most of the news refer to the civil rights. For example, an individual can be brought into a police station only with a previous notification and with an official invitation submitted. The goal is to prevent forceful extracting of a statement. Also, an individual who had already refused to make a statement can not again be called to a station. The Constitution guarantees that a person which had been arrested has the right to be once again informed about the charges brought against him/her in a language that he/she understands. The individual has the right to remain silent, to consult a lawyer and to have a defender during being questioned by the police. The right to a defender is pointed out as 'a big step in spreading the rights of defense in the criminal procedure'. The other news refer to the limitation of the freedom of citizens. An individual can be deprived from freedom only if the court decides so, and the police can not do that without a court decision. The Law includes Article 12 of the Constitution which reads that a person arrested should immediately, and within 24 hours the most, be brought in court, where the decision should be immediately made. The Constitution, however, does not allow to the police to keep each arrested individual for 24 hours, but they are obliged to bring the accused in front of an investigative judge. The police is entitled to keep a person arrested only in exclusive cases. The limitation of the imprisonment to 90 days drew the greatest attention of the public, and it was estimated as an 'unhappy solution', as it was considered impossible for all the phases prior to the verdict to be accomplished within that period of time. It appears that an attempt had been made to correct this with the introduction of an 'imprisonment due to a trial'. (The correction was proved to be necessary with cases such was the one of Mile Hadziski who killed Meri Josevska from Skopje, and who was released after 90 days. He is currently a fugitive.) As the imprisonment due to a trial is one of the most serious deviations in the guaranteed freedom of a charged person, the Law precisely states the conditions for it. The imprisonment can be determined by a Court Council only, and only if charges had been previously brought, while the accused has the right to object to it. The Law also includes the international right to an interpreter for those who do not understand or speak the official language used in the procedure. This, however, does not entitle the accused to use another language if he_she chooses so, and the defender has an excellent knowledge of the language. The interpreter is considered unnecessary if the accused understands the language, in order the procedure to be carried out more effectively and economically. The official language to be used in courts is the Macedonian language and Cyrillic alphabet. In case a court had issued an order for a person to be arrested, the police can enter and search a house or other premises without a warrant. There are news regarding the evidence, and the new Law reads that 'evidence obtained in an illegal way or by breaking the freedom and rights can neither be used in court nor can a verdict be based on them'. As mentioned before, a defender is given a greater role not only in court, but also in the police investigation. A defender can be only an official lawyer, and the defense is obligatory when an accused person is arrested. Certain limitations of the previous Criminal Law regarding the evidence given at the disposal of the defender had been eliminated. Now, the defender has the right to contact the client either personally or in written while the accused is in prison. Solutions for the so-called limited opportunity have also been introduced, which give the right to the prosecutor to decide whether charges should be brought in cases of the so-called low crimes. A prosecutor is also not obliged to bring criminal charges in precisely stated cases, if he_she decides that sanctioning is unnecessary. The international standards for the length of a trial have also been included, and the term within which the investigation should take place has been shortened from six to three months. The investigative judge should report to the Court President why has the investigation not been finished within that period of time. An alternative has been introduced regarding the verdict, which could be pronounced in the name of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, besides in the name of people. All these news, as well as the remarks of the Commissions and Parliament, which will be included, should make a new an modern Law on Criminal Procedure, which should correspond to the European standards. (end)mils news 26 August, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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