PERSPECTIVES 2019 Gusar: Victims of violence stuck in legal labyrinths

Lawyer Marta Gusar in a conversation for Perspectives 2019 says that women are increasingly more encouraged of reporting psychological-physical violence and of initiating a court procedure.

She adds that before it comes to a court procedure, that victims go through a difficult process, because first they need to call the police on 192, and violence is rarely recognized there. There has been a case when the victim reports violence where there is physical assault, and instead of being protected and taken care of, the victim is charged with a misdemeanour for participating in a fight and violating the public order and peace.

“In the following period I expect more training for all the institutions that work with victims of violence, especially the police, because the victim turns to them first. Violence is not only physical, but also psychological. Often, the police cannot recognise that it is a matter of psychological violence in order to refer the victim to other institutions”, highlighted Gusar.

She expects that with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, that centers for sheltering victims will be opened in all the municipalities.

“Skopje is not Macedonia. There are shelter centers in the capitol city, where victims of family and other types of violence can be sheltered, but the problem is in the other cities, that is, the rural areas where there is not a single shelter center, nor NGO to help the victims”, she says.

Gusar adds that the speed of the court for solving the procedures is to be commended, unlike it used to be before.

She is optimist that in the next five years while the implementation of the Istanbul convention lasts, that training will be implemented for all concerned institutions, that the level of awareness will be raised among all, that there will be greater number of NGOs dealing with victims of violence, and that finally the municipalities will budget the shelter centers.

Dehran Muratov
Camera and photography: Biljana Jordanovska