A new documentary by “Television 24”, looks into the what happened in the period from December 2016 – May 2017, when the VMRO-DPMNE government undertook various action to pressurize 23 civil society organizations, through extraordinary inspections conducted by the Public Revenue Office (PRO) and investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Interior and the Financial Police of the Republic of Macedonia, initiated by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
In detail, “Witch-hunt”, through statements from senior officials of some of the civil society organizations under investigation, reflects upon the Golgotha felt by the non-governmental organizations. “Witch-hunt” includes the Internet and Society Foundation “Metamorphosis”, during the offensive which also involved the media who had close ties to the then ruling VMRO-DPMNE party.
“Nearly every week we had people from the PRO, either here at our offices or with our accountants. They tried through the media and the institutions, to create confusion and painted a picture that civil society organizations were enemies of the state”, says Metamorphosis Executive Director, Bardhyl Jashari.
13 of the organizations had the Financial Police Directorate carrying out investigations into USAID’s cash flow and contributions to the NGOs.
