What happened: On 03.04.2019, SEI Shtip pressed criminal charges to the Primary Public Prosecutor’s
Office Shtip against S.Sh.( 20) from Shtip on the grounds of reasonable suspicion of having committed
the criminal offence “Spreading Racial and Xenophobic Material via an Information System” punishable
with Article 394-d, paragraph 1 from the Criminal Code. On 16.03.2019, the reported individual posted a
comment and photo on his Facebook profile, spreading racial and xenophobic material and inciting hatred
and violence.
Date, time and place of incident: 16.03.2019, Facebook, Shtip.
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. Sh. from Shtip.
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: On 03.04.2019 criminal charges for the crime “Spreading Racial and
Xenophobic Material via an Information System” were pressed against the perpetrator, pursuant to 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.
