16 civic organizations have asked from the President of the Parliament and the MPs who proposed the law, to urgently withdraw the Proposal of a Law Amending the Criminal Code from the agenda, in summary proceeding. They state that by changing the articles of the Criminal Code it will allow the cases that are led by SPO to give smaller crime sentences or the crimes will expire and that will contribute for the responsibility of the perpetrated crimes not to be assumed.
“We, the undersigned civil society organizations, demand to immediately withdraw the Proposal of a Law Amending the Criminal Code from the agenda, in summary proceeding, lodged by the MPs Artan Grubi, Snezhana Kaleska Vancheva, Sonja Mirakovska, Lidija Tasevska, Vesel Memedi, and Rexhep Memedi“, states the request sent by the 16 civic organizations.
They state that by withdrawing the proposal, the MPs will prevent anyone to bear any responsibility in cases led by the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Any act opposed to this means a continuation of the captured state situation, stated the organizations.
„We insist on withdrawing the proposal since the amendments to the articles of the Criminal Code will provide space for lighter punishments in cases led by the Special Prosecutor’s Office or for expiration of the crimes, thus responsibility for the perpetrated crimes will not be assumed. Amending the Criminal Code or any other law so justice could be evaded and the state captured by the political parties is unacceptable. By doing so, crime and corruption are also granted clemency, while impunity lives on” stated the press release.
-An urgent withdrawal of the changes in the Criminal Code for which we think will allow for most of the accused to have smaller sentences or their charges to expire. This fact disturbes us most. We fought for justice in order to have peace. We are upset by these changes and we think this is unacceptable for changes to be made for laws in order to prevent justice – said Fani Karanfilova- Panovska from the Open Society Foundation.
The following organizations signed the request for withdrawal of the law: Foundation Open Society – Macedonia,
Foundation for Internet and Society, Metamorphosis NGO Infocentre, Center for European Strategies – Eurothink
Forum – CSID, Coalition “All for Fair Trials”, Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” Skopje, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia, Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, Agora – Center for Promotion of Civic Values, CIVIL – Center for Freedom, Coalition MARGINS, Contemporary Art Center, European Policy Institute – Skopje, Institute for Human Rights, Youth Educational Forum and Proficio.