What happened: A 25-year-old from Studenicani was brutally attacked by several unknown people. The
attack occurred at “Jugodrvo” in Skopje, where the person was waiting for the bus to Studenichani.
According to his statements in the media, the people who beat him were fans of “Vardar” who were
headed to the main square to celebrate the victory of “Vardar” in the league of European handball
champions. Namely, several persons got off bus number 5 and asked him if he was an Albanian. When
confirmed, they started hitting him. One person caught him and held him while the others were
hitting him. Then, they stripped off his shirt and drew some crosses back and forth across his body
with a knife. There were five attackers and four of them beat him, while one did not come close. They
were wearing masks, shawls with state symbols and shirts of “Vardar”. After the attack they headed
for the square.
Date, time and location of the incident: 4 June, 22:00, near Jugodrvo, Skopje
Source of information: Electronic media outlet Alsat-М.
Victim(s) involved: One person.
Type of crime(s): Violence (Article 386, CC), Bodily injury (Article 130, CC)
Perpetrator(s): Five people
Brief decription of the incident with bias indicators: In this incident, the bias motive is ethnicity,
nationality or language, while the bias indicators are:
1. Difference in ethnicity – the victim was attacked after he confirmed that he was an Albanian: the
attackers had a symbol on them – the state flag;
2. The nature of the violence – the incident took place in public
Status of the case: Unknown
Response of the local authorities: The MoI’s response to the MHC request for public information
regarding this incident stated that SIA Skopje had submitted the form from a statement taken (KU
no. 5225/17) for the reported crime of “Violence” in accordance with Article 386 from the CC.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This incident calls into question the general stability, as
well as the ethnic coexistence of the two major ethnicities in the country.
