The list of group New Year pardons the prisons make it, deliver it to Ministry of Justice, and hence the list of names of those seeking early release from prison is forwarded to Pardon Commission in the Cabinet of the President. This is a regular procedure that is conducted before the New Year, Sloboden Pecat writes.
The list of names that was published yesterday caused her a series of public reactions has been returned to the prison administration for consideration. The authorities say that the list is not final and that no disputed name will be found on it.
The list for the group New Year pardons according to formal criteria is made by the prisons. Last week it was technically forwarded to the President’s Cabinet for consideration. That list is not final and is not proposed by the Ministry of Justice, wrote the Minister of Justice Bojan Maricic on Facebook.
He added that after seeing her on Friday, he started the procedure for her withdrawal, which was formalized yesterday. “With my signature, I returned the list to the prisons for another review,” Maricic wrote.
Deputy Minister of Justice Agim Nuhiu previously announced on Facebook that the list of persons proposed for pardon that should be submitted to the President Stevo Pendarovski has been withdrawn.
– We are informing the general public that the Pardon Initiatives initiated by the Prison Administrations have been withdrawn by the Ministry of Justice! “We will always act for the cause of justice,” Nuhiu wrote.
The head of the Ministry of Justice announced yesterday that the disputed list will be cleared and that he will not grant any pardons.
– These are specific pardons on the occasion of the New Year and the lists for partial reduction of the sentence are made by the directors of the prisons and are forwarded for consideration. I think that some of the disputed names will not even be on the lists. So, the draft lists are from the prisons, not from the Ministry of Justice. Those lists go through four filters, Maricic said for “Utrinski briefing”.
He pointed out that this procedure is not public and is not made public. – It is ungrateful to publish names at an early stage because these are people who are convicted and have their own hopes. “We will make sure that no disputed names are found on the lists,” Maricic said.
From the Cabinet of the President Stevo Pendarovski confirmed to MIA that the Pardon Commission will schedule the session when the final list from the Ministry of Justice with the proposals for group pardon arrives.
– The Pardon Commission will schedule the session when the final list from the Ministry of Justice arrives with the proposals for the group pardon. As always, we will inform the public as soon as the decisions are made, say Pendarovski’s Cabinet.
Several political parties also reacted to the proposed pardon list yesterday.
Following the information that the Minister of Justice submitted a request to President Stevo Pendarovski for pardon of Boban Ilic, convicted for the murder of little Almir Aliu on June 25, 2016, Alternative yesterday at a press conference asked the President not to sign this pardon and request to be withdrawn.
The Alliance for Albanians, on the other hand, painted the Ministry of Justice red with the color of revolt for the pardon initiative. Omer Ajdini from the Youth Forum of the Alliance for Albanians stressed that they demand the immediate resignation of the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Minister and all stakeholders who have taken this pardon initiative.
There are 48 people on the list for pardon from serving part of the prison sentence or for full pardon as a proposal to the President of the Ministry of Justice. Among the names, as reported by some media, are the businessman Seat Kocan, Aleksandar Vasilevski-Ninja, the controversial prosecution witness for the events of April 27, 2017, Boban Ilic, convicted for the murder of 4-year-old Almir in Kumanovo…