What happened: Unknown perpetrators damaged the frescoes and icons by drawing genitalia with
a knife in the only Orthodox Church of “St. Thalelaeus” in the village of Arachinovo in Skopje, after
which they demolished the interior of the church.
Date, time and location of the incident: 27 January, time unknown, in Arachinovo, Skopje
Source of information: Electronic medium MKD.mk.
Victim(s) involved: Aside from the material damage, there were no victims of this incident
Type of the crime(s): Damage to objects of others (Article 243, CC), Causing hatred, discord or
intolerance on national, racial, religious and other discriminatory ground (Article 319, CC)
Perpetrator(s): A group of unknown perpetrators
Brief description of the incident with bias indicators: In this incident, the bias motive is religion or
belief and the bias indicators are:
1. Location of the incident – an Orthodox Christian Church in a predominantly Albanian environment;
2. Pattern of previous incidents – ever since the confl ict in 2001, the church is a constant target of
unknown offenders who have been demolishing the church dining room and kitchen as well as the
gravestones of Macedonian citizens
Status of the case: Not registered
Response of Local Authorities: In MOI’s response to the Committee’s request for public information
regarding this incident, it is stated that such incident has not been reported to SIA Skopje.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This incident calls into question the safety of different
religious communities in the country.
