The Basic Public Prosecution has rejected the report for a criminal offence against the head of the Macedonian Islamic Religious Community (MIRC) Suleiman Rexepi, since there is no basis for suspicion that the accused has made the offence – Ridiculing the Macedonian nation and the members of the communities as stated in Article 179 and for causing hatred, division or intolerance based on race, religious and other discriminatory basis”
The Head of the Islamic religious Community Rexepi in his speech in the village of Arnakija, regarding the putting the foundations for a mosque on the 14th of March gave a statement that many saw as hate speech:
“We will not allow any obstructions and to prevent us from building mosques. We will never be silent. We hope, Godspeed, that better times will come, and we will construct mosques everywhere, we have people and location of village Lazhec, Bitola region, where for more than 100 years they have not had a mosque. Imagine, what kind of life we share with this wild nation. This is the reason why these nameless and wild people have no identity and will never have one, although we want to help them. They cannot be helped, soulless people never come to their senses”.
The Prosecution state that material evidence was gathered and from its analysis they saw that “there is no basis that the accused has done any of the stated crime acts.”
-The key element in the crime act i.e. a speech that includes the mocking of the Macedonian nation and members of communities in article 179 of the Crime Code represents an intention of a public ridicule of the Macedonian nation and the members of the communities that live in this country. During the statement the accused gave he isn’t mentioning anywhere neither the Macedonian nation nor the the members of the communities with an intent of ridiculing – states the Public Prosecution. They also add that the judge herself in a statement for the authorized prosecutor stressed that she doesn’t feel jeopardized nor she recognizes a hate speech in the words of the accused, informs the Public Prosecution.
