At least 15 journalists were were reporting from Macedonian Parliament during the violent attack and the rampage on the 27 April, announced they will file a lawsuit against the Republic of Macedonia for damages.
According to Goran Trpenoski, Dushica Mrgja and Bobi Hristov, the lawsuit’s initiators, the state will be sued in accordance to Article 166 of the Law on Obligations – “Responsibility due to terrorist acts, public demonstrations, and manifestations”. The initiators also stated that the lawsuit can be extended with a claim for responsibility from individuals who by taking or non-taking activities contributed to the situation.
Mrgja, Hristov, and Trpenoski have announced that the procedure will be open to all colleagues that were reporting from Parliament – journalists, photo reporters and cameramen and have called upon all media workers who feel they were violated, to join them.
“Apart from the journalists that were reporting from the press hall, journalists who were reporting from outside Parliament should join the lawsuit. The initiators have spoken with employees from Parliament that want to take part in the initiative. I’m hoping that journalists and cameramen will gather the courage to take legal action against the state because we were at our work place and I believe that our reporting contributed to the prevention of worse consequences. Our presence helped bring about the situation to end, and the way it ended,” said Trpenoski.
