Macedonia May Alter Constitution to Ease Extradition

Macedonia's Justice Ministry has proposed changes to the constitution to ease the extradition process, which went before parliament on Wednesday.

"The changes will be similar to those that Croatia and Serbia made recently," the Justice Minister, Mihajlo Manevski, explained.

"They will allow for the extradition of Macedonian nationals who have evaded prosecution because they have double citizenship," he said.

At the same time, the changes will "allow us to extradite Macedonian nationals to third countries where they committed crimes", he added.

In recent years, several high-profile Macedonian officials and businessmen holding dual citizenship have fled the country to avoid prosecution.

Serbia is refusing to extradite the former chief of customs, Dragan Daravelski, who is wanted in Macedonia on embezzlement charges.

A former state trustee for several bankrupt companies, Vladislav Tamburkovski, jailed in absentia in Macedonia for fraud, is also out of the country, believed to be hiding in Bulgaria or Serbia. Former health minister Vlado Dimov is believed to have fled to Turkey to avoid corruption charges.

Manevski denied that the changes were being made specifically in order to net these people. However, in March, when Serbia and Croatia made similar changes, Macedonia then said it was not planning to follow suit.

Macedonia's parliament is expected to reach a decision on the proposed changes within the next three months.