What happened: SEI Ohrid pressed criminal charges against N.U. (59) from the village of Vevcani, Struga
region, on the grounds of reasonable suspicion for having committed the criminal offence “Spreading
Racial and Xenophobic Material via an Information System”. During 2018 and 2019, the reported individual
spread racial and xenophobic material via his Facebook profile.
Date, time and place of incident: 2018 and 2019, Facebook, Vevcani, Struga.
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. N.U. from Vevcani.
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, is used as a
platform for this type of incidents.
Status of case: Criminal charges pressed.
Response of the local authorities: The perpetrator was detained, upon which criminal charges were pressed
for having committed a criminal offence pursuant to Article 394-d from CC of RNM. The crime 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.
