A man from Vinica posted threatening contents on Facebook

What happened: On 03.04.2019, SEI Shtip pressed criminal charges against S.V. (37) from Vinica on
the grounds of reasonable suspicion of having committed the criminal offence “Spreading Racial and
Xenophobic Material via an Information System.” On 03.04.2019, the individual in question posted a text
with threatening contents on Facebook.
Date, time and place of incident: On 03.04.2019, Facebook, Vinica.
Source of information: MOI’s daily newsletter.
Victim(s) involved: No victims.
Type of crime(s): Spreading Racial and Xenophobic Material via an Information System (Article 394-d, CC of
RNM).
Perpetrator(s): One identified perpetrator, S.V. from Vinica.
Brief description of the event with bias indicators: In this incident the bias motive is ethnicity, with the bias
indicators being:
1. Ethnicity – the perpetrator spread hate speech against a different ethnic community;
2. Pattern of previous incidents – very often social media, particularly Facebook, are used as a
platform for this type of incidents.
Status of case: Criminal charges pressed.
Response of the local authorities: Criminal charges pressed for the crime pursuant to Article 394-d from CC
of RNM. The criminal offence was qualified as a hate crime.
Impact on the victims and the community: These types of incidents call into question the general safety in
the country and the co-existence among different ethnic groups in society.