North Macedonia’s parliament has passed several amendments to its Penal Code pertaining to prison sentences for state officials found guilty of abusing their official positions.
These changes, proposed by the Government, were approved with 48 votes in favor and 36 against during an expedited session held on September 6 in the North Macedonian parliament.
Under the newly approved amendments, individuals who misuse their position and official authority in cases of public procurement or financial misconduct leading to budgetary damage can be sentenced up to five years in prison.
The current law imposes penalties for such criminal offenses, starting at five years, with the possibility of sentences extending beyond ten years of imprisonment.
As per the revised proposal, Article 353(c), addressing “improper conduct in service”, sees a reduction in the previously stipulated minimum sentence of three years for officials or responsible individuals in public companies or institutions, now lowered from six months to five years.
More substantial reductions in prison terms are outlined in Article 394, relating to the criminal offense of “criminal association”.
Rather than the previous maximum sentence of ten years in prison for establishing a criminal group, the amendments now permit a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison.
These reductions in prison sentences also extend to members of the criminal group or gang involved in the crime, with the maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment reduced to a maximum of two years, as per the approved changes.
The North Macedonian Government maintains that these legal modifications align with German legislation and offer a temporary solution until a new Penal Code is enacted.
Critics, however, view these changes as government efforts to shield officials suspected of significant corruption.
The opposition party in North Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE, had pledged to take all necessary measures to prevent the adoption of these amendments, especially given that proposals under expedited approval, often referred to as the “European star”, involve parliamentary debates lasting no longer than three days.
“We are presented with a criminal proposal for changes and additions to the Penal Code, which is essentially nothing more than a proposal for the amnesty of power criminals. We will not permit proposals that run contrary to all legal norms and exploit their approval procedure under the guise of the European Union,” stated Dafina Stojanoska, a VMRO-DPMNE deputy.
Three Albanian opposition parties, namely the Democratic Movement, Besa Movement, and Alternative, have labeled the Government’s proposal as an “effort to protect former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his associates”.
Nikola Gruevski served as prime minister from 2006 to 2016 and currently resides in Hungary, where he was granted political asylum in 2018 following legal proceedings against him in North Macedonia.
Gruevski has been sentenced to over ten years in prison for various criminal offenses, with several ongoing legal proceedings against him.
These changes to the Penal Code come at a time when the Government is grappling with multiple allegations of abuse of office by its officials, tampered tenders, and illicit accumulation of wealth.
One prominent case centers around the Oncology Clinic in Skopje, where investigations are underway concerning allegations of cancer patients’ therapies being sold on the black market. Government-appointed officials at this clinic are also under scrutiny for their potential involvement in this scandal.
