Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Macedonia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in North Macedonia. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2023 European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment CPT, 27 July 2022 [accessed 28 July
2022] The European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) has announced today its 2023 programme
of periodic visits. The Committee
intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the
following countries: Albania, Armenia,
Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, and the Slovak Republic. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: North Macedonia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/north-macedonia/
[accessed 28 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The constitution
and laws prohibit such practices, but there were some reports police abused
detainees and prisoners and used excessive force. The government acted to
investigate and prosecute legitimate claims. The Ministry of Interior
Professional Standards Unit (PSU) reported, during the first seven months of
the year, it acted upon 32 complaints referring to use of excessive force by
police officers. The unit deemed 13 of the complaints unfounded, dismissed 17
for insufficient evidence, and upheld two. In the latter two cases, the PSU
filed criminal reports against the police officers for “harassment while
performing duty.” PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS The ombudsman opened
inquiries into the death of six incarcerated persons. As of August 17, two
inquiries were closed based on a Public Prosecutor’s Office’s (PPO) report
ruling out violence as a contributing factor in the deaths, two inquiries
were pending reports from the PPO, and the remaining two were awaiting
overdue autopsy reports. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Authorities
generally informed detainees promptly of the charges against them. Detention
prior to indictment may last a maximum of 180 days. Following indictment,
pretrial detention may last a maximum of two years. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/MKD/CO/2
(2008) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/macedonia2008.html [accessed 3 March
2013] 16. The Committee is
concerned about allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment committed by law enforcement personnel and notes with
concern a lack of prompt and effective investigations and prosecutions in
this respect (see also paragraph 5 above).
In particular, the Committee is concerned at allegations reporting
that the most serious abuses would be committed by a special unit of the
police named “Alfi”, mandated to counter urban crimes and work in plain
clothes. In this respect, the Committee
takes note of the information received by the delegation that the “Alfi” unit
is going to terminate its activities soon. MACEDONIA:
"Disappearance" of Hajredin Halimi (m), born 1954, ethnic Albanian Amnesty
International AI, 1 October 2006 -- AI Index: EUR 65/003/2006 www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/76000/eur650032006en.pdf [accessed 7 January
2019] Amnesty
International is concerned about the “disappearance” of Hajredin Halimi on 7
August 2001, and is seeking information from the Macedonian authorities about
a “special committee” investigating the case and urging the Macedonian
authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. In the early hours
of 7 August 2001, members of the “Tigers” commando military unit, the
Security and Counter-espionage Service(DBK), and other police officers
carried out a raid in Skopje, Macedonia at the home of Musafer Halimi.
Musafer Halimi, Hajredin Halimi, his brother Fikri Halimi and his nephew Elam
Halimi were taken to the Gazi Baba police station in Skopje, to be
interrogated on suspicion of membership in the ethnic Albanian National
Liberation Army (NLA). Musafer Halimi was
kept in detention, tried, convicted and sentenced for association with the
NLA, but was released following a presidential pardon in autumn 2001. Fikri
and Elam Halimi were released on 9 August 2001. Two hours before his release
from the Gazi Baba police station on 9 August 2001, Fikri Halimi alleges that
he heard the voice of his brother Hajredin Halimi from another cell. However,
the fate of Hajredin Halimi remains unknown. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Editiion www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/macedonia [accessed 5 February
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] According to a
November 2008 EU progress report, the judiciary has
made some progress in strengthening its independence and efficiency over the
past year. Nevertheless, serious problems with corruption remain. Amnesty International
in 2008 accused Macedonian officials of complicity in the extralegal
detention, torture, and extradition to Afghanistan of a Lebanese-born German
citizen, Khaled el-Masri, by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
International watchdog groups have on a number of occasions charged
Macedonian police with ill-treatment and torture of prisoners. The Council of
Europe has expressed deep concern about prison facilities in the country,
while noting that some improvements have been made in recent years. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT Allegations of
torture and other ill-treatment by police officials continued, including of two
men detained after the Smilkovci lake murder. In May, the Ombudsperson, as
the National Protection Mechanism, reported that conditions in police
stations in 2011 were below minimum standards – especially for juveniles –
and detainees rarely had access to a lawyer or doctor. Juveniles were held in
solitary confinement in inhuman and “utterly degrading” conditions. In
December, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported that
the authorities had made little progress in implementing previous
recommendations, particularly in Idrizovo Prison, where ill-treatment by
staff, inter-prisoner intimidation/violence and “totally unsatisfactory
conditions” for prisoners persisted. COUNTER-TERROR AND
SECURITY In December, the
European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that Macedonia was
responsible for the violations suffered by Khaled el-Masri, a German resident
who was apprehended in 2003 by the Macedonian authorities, held incommunicado
in Macedonia for 23 days, and subsequently transferred to the custody of US
authorities and flown to Afghanistan. The Court ruled that Macedonia was liable for Khaled
el-Masri’s unlawful detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other
ill-treatment, for his transfer out of Macedonia to locations where he
suffered other serious human rights violations, and for the failure to carry
out an effective investigation. It was the first time the Court had ruled on
the case of a victim of the US-led rendition programme. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=macedonia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 7 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61662.htm [accessed 5 February
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61662.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, police at times used excessive force
during the apprehension of criminal suspects and sometimes abused prisoners. On June 30,
according to one NGO, a Romani man was called into the Kicevo
police station for questioning after persons under interrogation there
accused him of participating in an altercation. The man alleged that the
police then beat him, a Romani friend who came to his assistance, and a third
Romani man who was also being questioned. The men filed charges on July 6,
but the public prosecutor had not acted on them by year's end. The ombudsman and
public prosecutor continued to review the cases of two ethnic Albanians
arrested and allegedly beaten by police near Stenkovec
in October 2004. The suspects were charged with attempted murder of a taxi
driver and illegal possession of firearms. The PSU investigation, conducted
in cooperation with the European Union's (EU) Proxima
police mission and completed in 2004, did not confirm the abuse allegations.
The officers involved received additional training on the appropriate use of
force. In April Ministry
of Interior officials and international observers completed an investigation
of allegation that security and counterintelligence officers in Kumanovo unlawfully detained and severely mistreated Avni Ajeti, who was convicted
of mining the Skopje-Belgrade railroad and placing a bomb in the Kumanovo central square. The observers noted serious
irregularities in authorities' handling of the case, including officers'
failure to record Ajeti's detention or to obtain
legal authority for detaining him longer than twenty-four hours. The
observers further noted that these administrative failures prevented them
from confirming or refuting the allegations against the counterintelligence
officers. An interior
ministry investigation monitored by international observers into allegations
that Selam Selami was
illegally detained and abused by counterintelligence officers in 2002 ended
in April without determining the exact circumstances of his detention.
International monitors noted that the counterintelligence agency's inability
to produce records relative to the case made it impossible to establish the
cause of severe medical problems experienced by Selami
while being held by the officers. Selami had been
detained in connection with the shooting of two ethnic Macedonian police
officers; charges against him were dropped the following year. All
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Macedonia", http://gvnet.com/torture/Macedonia.htm, [accessed
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