Parliament adopted the Law on Protection against Discrimination
MPs with 52 votes “for”, three abstentions and not a single vote against, adopted the Law on Protection and Prevention against Discrimination. Given that the Law is passed according to the principle of Badinter majority, 13 of 20 present MPs members of non-majority communities voted for it.
According to the legal solution, any discrimination based on race, skin color, origin, national and ethnic affiliation, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, belonging to a marginalized group, language, citizenship, social origin, education, religion or religious belief, political conviction, other beliefs, disability, age, family or marital status, property status, health condition, personal capacity and social status or on any other grounds, is prohibited.
The Law was previously in parliamentary procedure in a regular procedure, but was “stuck” for eight months, after which the Government withdrew it and resubmitted it with a European flag in shortened procedure.
Kocan received 4,8 years in prison in “Trust” case
Businessman Sead Kocan received a prison sentence of 4.8 years, while Vasilije Avirovik instead of effective prison, received a suspended sentence. Criminal Council judges of the Court of Appeal confirmed the first-instance judgement of the Criminal Court on the case of the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office under the code name “Trust”.
It reduced Kocan’s sentence from 6 to 4.8 years, and for Avirovik from three years – to a suspended sentence.
The epilogue for Avirovik follows after last year the Parliament passed amendments to the Criminal Code, with which for the crimes of abusing the procedure for public announcement, granting an agreement for public procurement or public-private partnership, the anticipated sentence was reduced from 5 to 4 years. The Court of Appeal lessened the sentence from 3 to 2 years, which allows for a suspended sentence to be pronounced.
BESA reacts that the Albanians have been left out
In reaction to yesterday’s leadership meeting between Zoran Zaev and Hristijan Mickovski, the BESA Movement accused that the Albanians had been left out.
According to BESA, Zaev’s and Misckovski’s agreements on important state issues should not exclude the Albanian political representatives, because they have an influence on the interests and the Albanians in the country.
The Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the future of the special prosecutor’s office, the opening of chapters for membership in the European Union, the Law on the transformation of DSK into a new intelligence agency, the reform laws, as well as many other topics that are not exclusive issues only for the Macedonian political parties, but are topics and issues that require a wider interethnic consensus.
The deadline for inspection of the Voters Register expires in four days
The deadline for inspection of the Voters Register and registering for voting of the diaspora expires on March 14. On this date, the submission of requests of citizens for registration, addition or deletion of data in the Voters Register also ends.
The public inspection in the Voters Register is being carried out in the branch departments and offices of the State Election Commission, from 8.30 am to 7.00 pm, including weekends and holidays. On March 14, the above-mention inspection will last until 12.00 midnight.
Observing the deportation of the Macedonian Jews
The 76th anniversary of the deportation of Macedonian Jews will be marked today in Skopje with several activities, in organization of the Jewish Community and the Holocaust Fund.
D. Muratov
Photography: Vanco Dzambaski
(Protest of NGOs in front of Parliament for the adoption of the Law on protection and prevention against discrimination)
