Handcuffed, pushed and dragged, insulted and molested for several hours at the Skopje airport. Instead of boarding the plane to London yesterday afternoon, Dimitar Shoshev ended up in handcuffs – announced NGO CIVIL.
Shoshev is one of the protesters who were detained after the protests on 5th of May and who were expressly trialed and a suspended sentence was imposed on 22nd of May for him, after which he was released. The arrest warrant was issued for him on the same day.
“Significantly agitated and revolted, Dimitar told us for his several-hour molesting. Before the plane with which he should have traveled took off, cackling, police officers took him to see how the plane is taking off. They held his head in the direction of the airplane that was departing at that moment. Once the confirmation that there is no warrant for him arrived, he was left on the road without an apology, and his suitcase, which was returned to him visibly damaged. His plane ticket was rendered useless,” reads the statement of the NGO.
Lawyer Miroslav Vujik, who represented the Shoshev court, confirmed for CIVIL that this is a serious mistake of the Ministry of Interior, because the warrant for Dimitar was withdrawn even on 22nd of May and that they should have updated its status immediately in the computer system. Vujik said that Dimitar Shoshev’s case is not the only one and that there are several more such cases.
CIVIL emphasized that police had more than enough time to implement the court order to withdraw the warrant to yesterday and stated that this represents rough restriction of freedom of movement. CIVIL sharply protests this behavior of the police and demands this behavior to stop immediately. Those responsible for this scandal should be immediately held responsible.
“MOI is obliged to take responsibility for abuse and to compensate all material and non-material damage to Dimitar Shoshev, starting from payment of the now useless ticket and damaged belongings to his compensation due to inflicted non-material damage,” reads the statement of CIVIL.
