What happened: Only a few weeks following the case when Roma members were assaulted by police officers in Bitola, the civil initiative AVAJA shared information to the public on a new case in Bitola bearing indications of police brutality but also elements of revenge on the part of police officers. According to AVAJA, this time the police used excessive force against a mature Roma woman and her son: “The woman’s son was on a lunch break from work and was not wearing a mask at that moment because he was eating outdoors. However, the police officer approached him and demanded to see his identification papers for not wearing a mask outdoors because he intended to fine him (EVEN THOUGH WEARING MASKS OUTDOORS WAS STILL NOT MANDATORY). The Roma man did not have an I.D. on his person, hence his mother offered her I.D. to the police officer. The police officer called a back up and the son was detained with the mother because she refused to leave him alone with the police officers. After they boarded the police van, the son and the woman were VIOLENTLY BEATEN, during which the police officer yelled at them “You Gypsies, go ahead and make a video now, you ain’t got nothing on me”! The adult Roma woman is in a life-threatening condition! The Emergency Care Services were called to treat the assaulted woman since due to her asthma she could not breathe during the assault! At present, the woman is suffering from anxiety and a compromised health condition! On the day of the assault, her husband attempted to report the case at the police station three times, however no one wanted to see him. At the moment the woman’s husband is attempting to report the case again to the police in Bitola – we expect that this time the police will let him report the case and take proper measures!!! Another attempt to cover the case is troubling, and the fact that the other police officers failed to act promptly indicates to a necessity of thorough reforms in police work!” – informed AVAJA. The Helsinki Committee and the Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers provided the victims with a lawyer through a joint project. The woman and her son were not held in detainment and are presently feeling well, however the police refused to make a report on the case on several other occasions.
Brief description of the incident with bias indicators: In this incident the bias motives are skin colour, the assumed ethnic origin and language, with the bias indicators being:
- Language – the victims and the attacker spoke a different language;
- Skin colour – the victims were assaulted because they had a different skin colour from the perpetrator;
- Ethnic origin – the victims and the attacker belonged to a different ethnic community;
- Location – Bitola is a municipality populated by diverse ethnicities and similar incidents have been previously registered, particularly in cases where the victims were of Roma ethnicity.
Impact on the victims and the community: These types of incidents call into question the general safety in the country and cohabitation among the different ethnic and linguistic groups in society and significantly diminish citizens’ trust in the police. Considering the troubling indications, the Department for Internal Control, Criminal Investigation and Professional Standards at the Ministry of Interior should have fully investigated the case and issued proper disciplinary measures against the involved police officers if the suspicion proved grounded, and furthermore pressed criminal charges. Unfortunately, this was not the case and the procedure was initiated completely only by the victims, the witnesses and the civil society organizations.
