What happened: On 22.04.2019, SEI Kumanovo pressed criminal charges against I.J. (43) from the village
of Pelince, municipality Staro Nagorichane, on the grounds of reasonable suspicion of having committed
the criminal offence “Spreading Racial and Xenophobic Material via an Information System”, Article 394-d,
paragraph 1 from CC of RNM. The crime was committed on 21.04.2019 via the social network Facebook.
Date, time and place of incident: 22.04.2019, Facebook, Pelince, Kumanovo.
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, I.J. from Kumanovo.
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, awaiting criminal charges pursuant to
394-d from CC of RNM.
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.
