MIRJANA NAJCEVSKA
The most successful way to fight crime is the one that prevents crime from paying off.
A criminal must not benefit from their own criminal act, be put in a privileged position or let off with a minimum punishment, which at the end will allow the criminal to enjoy the results of the criminal activity.
In Macedonia, crime conducted from the position of power pays off.
This is achieved in several ways.
First, criminal acts are formally-legally declared legal (with appropriate adjustment of laws and bylaws). This very often is done by anticipating future possible criminal actions of senior officials in government and specifically decriminalizing them.
Second, criminal actions are not investigated. This is done by systematically destroying all investigative bodies. It is done by corrupting them, or partisanship, by their de-functionalization (lack of elementary conditions and tools for work), by reducing their competencies and by cutting them off from the persecution system (isolation by creating a buffer zone of other non-functional institutions).
Third, crimes are not processed. This is done by delaying lawsuits, by prolonging proceedings (to a level of becoming obsolete), by rejecting charges and by obvious and unhidden corrupt action of judicial bodies.
Fourth, those suspected of having committed a crime, from a position of power can use all the resources obtained from the committed crime (money, material goods, established connections and positions, achieved status, previously created networks of corrupt judicial structures, privileged information).
Fifth, the crime in Macedonia has no party, ethnic or religious color. It is multicultural, multi-party and multi-confessional. Crime is interwoven between those who are currently in power, those who had been previously in power and those who are getting ready to come to power. This allows handling supposed processes, which have the purpose only to defocus the public from the obvious connection of interests and the manner of action of seemingly opposing groups.
Sixth, the main task of every ruling structure remains to be ensuring the functioning of channels of stealing public good, unlawful enrichment of senior officials and impunity.
As long as laws that secure the interests of someone in or close to the government are passed (and are obviously contrary to the interests of a large number of citizens), as long as suspects and people convicted of criminal acts from the position of power can be released on bail by using the money acquired while they were in position of power, as long as cases against senior officials in government become obsolete and as long as those suspected for major violations of laws can be part of the government, the crime in Macedonia will pay off, while the fight against crime will be just an ordinary farce that deludes the citizens.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
