Macedonians Remember Victim of Fatal Police Beating

Young people used the occasion to remind authorities that their earlier demands for determining responsibility and tighter control against police brutality had still not been met.

They announced further more massive protests from September, after the summer holidays.

“We have invited both government and the opposition politicians and everybody else to join us and show support for solving this case but nobody showed up. The people are left on their own so god helps us”, Martin’s brother Aleksandar told media.

In a grim atmosphere the protestors observed a minute of silence, lit candles in front of the parliament building and shared a birthday cake to mark the occasion.
 
Martin Neskovski died shortly after midnight on 6 June after being brutally beaten in the central square of Skopje at celebrations held to mark the election victory of Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party the previous day.

Eywitnesses claimed a policeman in uniform beat the man to death.
As news spread through local media, young people used Facebook and Twitter to organize protest rallies against what they said was unchecked police brutality.

For nearly two days, the police denied the incident had happened. But on 8 June the police changed its story confirming the man’s death and identity and claiming that it had the murder suspect in custody.

According to the police, the murder suspect, Igor Spasov, who at the time served as member of the police’s special unit Tigers, turned himself in. However his motives for the alleged incident remain unknown to this day.

Spasov was sacked from the police service and is in custody while his trial is in progress. His mental state is currently being assessed by the order of the court in Skopje.

However his arrest did not stop the peaceful protests that had begun in Skopje, where local citizens say they want reforms.

The persistence of youngsters was unprecedented in the country’s 20 years of independence. Continuous rallies in Skopje lasted throughout June and early July during which protestors organized marches, concerts and plays to voice their message.

During the protests, the young people wrote a petition demanding for a revision of police law to provide stricter civil control over police and stricter rules for hiring new police officers.
 
They also demanded that some police units be disbanded and called for Police Minister, Gordana Jankulovska, and police spokesperson, Ivo Kotevski, who claimed at first there was no incident, to take some responsibility.

Jakulovska insisted she had no moral responsibility for the alleged incident and did not resign. To date, no law changes have been initiated.

The protestors on Tuesday said they are not giving up from their demands.

“We expect more massive gatherings from September, again accompanied with marches, street blockades and various other activities” says Aleksandar Mitrov, one of the organizers of the rallies.