Macedonians Continue Rallies After Fatal Beating

Protestors on Tuesday accused the police of brutality | Photo by:Gjorgji Licovski

The killing of 22-year-old Martin Neskovski from Skopje on Sunday sparked public outrage throughout the country and anti-police protests in the capital over the past three days. A group of mainly young protesters gathered at rally in front of the parliament on Wednesday evening.

After protesting peacefully in front of the parliament, they went to the place where Neskovski was believed to be killed, where they lit candles and placed flowers.

Organisers said that they plan to continue to hold protests in the coming days.

The police on Wednesday officially filed charges against policeman Igor Spasov for the murder of Neskovski. If Spasov is convicted, he faces ten years to life in jail.

According to the police, Spasov said during questioning that he attacked the boy after a verbal quarrel with him, after which several of his colleagues helped him move the body away from the place of the beating.

The funeral for Neskovski was held on Wednesday, but no state or party officials were present.

Macedonia's Police Minister Gordana Jankulovska, meanwhile, has spoken to the press for the first time about the murder of Neskovski.

“I want to express thanks to all who cooperated and helped in uncovering this case and I wish to express my condolences to the family of the deceased Martin,” she said today.

In a statement for the local A1 TV on Tuesday, Neskoviski's mother, visibly in distress, said that members of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party tried to persuade her family to keep silent.

“The authorities killed my son! They killed him! The kid was asking for help and they kept his body for two days to cover up the case,” the mother shouted in front of the cameras on Tuesday afternoon.

“I will not hide. They came from the VMRO to convince my husband not to tell. That is what they did. They came to convince him not to give statements that the state killed him [the boy],” the woman said.

The beating that led to Neskovski's death took place near Skopje’s central Macedonia Square during the peak of the political celebrations after the VMRO DPMNE declared victory in the general elections held that day.

As news of the incident quickly spread through local media and social networks, the police on Monday initially claimed that no such incident had been reported, which sparked outrage expressed on social media.

Faced with two days of protests and increased public pressure, the police on Tuesday afternoon held a press conference to announce that they had identified the deceased and the policeman who allegedly murdered him.

The police officer, 33-year-old Igor Spasov, a member of the special unit “Tigers” turned himself in, and was brought before an investigative court in Skopje today.

Former police general Stojance Angelov says Spasov may suffer from post traumatic stress disorder from the 2001 armed conflict

The former deputy chief of the police unit “Tigers”, Stojance Angelov told local NetPress news agency that he is convinced that his former subordinate Spasov suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, from the time he spent in this elite unit during the 2001 armed conflict in Macedonia.

“I have been saying all along that all the members of the unit that participated in the battles ten years ago suffer from PTSD. They need professional help,” Angelov said, describing them as “time bombs” that may erupt in violent outbursts.

The death has sparked outrage across Macedonia.

“The action taken by a police officer, resulting in the brutal death of one man, shows one more time that the police reforms are not providing appropriate results,” the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said in a statement.

The pro-government media, meanwhile, has criticised A1 TV, widely seen as critical of the government, arguing that its reporting has created unnecessary hysteria over the case.

Meanwhile, Facebook groups have called on Macedonians to resume protests. They call for solidarity and persistence in seeking an end to cases of police brutality.

Several hundred people protested in downtown Skopje on Monday and Tuesday. The organisers demanded the dissolution of one particulary controversial street crime fighting unit, called “Alfa”.

Over the past few years, the police and the State Ombudsman have received numerous complaints that members of the unit have used excessive force and brutality in certain cases. However, the police have insisted that the unit is vital in curbing street crime.

In one high profile case from 2006 that sparked the interest of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and international human rights groups, police officers from the Alfa unit were publicly accused for causing the death of a 17-year-old boy.

The parents of Trajan Bekirov, who went missing in May 2006 and was later found dead near Skopje’s Vardar River, suspected that the police murdered their boy. Eyewitnesses claimed that the boy was last seen being chased by members of the Alfa unit.

After several forensic examinations of the body, and a series of protest by friends and relatives, the Bekjirov death remains unsolved to this day, while police deny any responsibility.