What happened: On 23.03.2018, at 16:00, at the Police Precinct in Ohrid, a citizen reported that an unknown
person was damaging a religious object – a grave on “Goce Delchev” Street, opposite the Haydar Pasha Mosque.
After conducting inspection, it was established that around 15:50, an unknown perpetrator broke the roof
tiles on the cover of a “Turbe” (a grave of an unknown Muslim saint), and fled the scene. From the measures
undertaken it was established that the perpetrator was E.Sh. (38), from Ohrid. He was identified, deprived of
liberty and taken into custody at the Police Precinct Ohrid for further proceedings.
Date, time and location of the incident: 23 March, around 16:00h, in Ohrid, near Haydar-Pasha Mosque.
Source of information: MoI’s daily newsletter.
Victim(s) involved: none.
Type of crime(s): Damage of Objects of Others (Article 243, CC), Desecration of a grave (Article 400, CC),
Inciting Hatred, Discord or Intolerance on National, Racial, Religious and other Grounds Article 319, CC)
Perpetrator(s): unknown perpetrator(s).
Brief description of the event with bias indicators: In this incident, the bias motive is ethnicity, while the
bias indicators are:
1. Pattern of previous incidents – religious objects and cemeteries had previously also been desecrated and
destroyed.
2. Location – The incident took place in the vicinity of the Haydar-Pasha Mosque.
Status of the case: Unknown.
Response of the local authorities: MoI’s answer to the request for information states that criminal charged
had been pressed to the competent PPPO for the crime of “Desecrating a grave” (Article 400, CC).
Impact on the victims and the community: This incident calls into question the ethnic co-existence of the
two major ethnic communities in the country.
