What happened: 13 persons, out of whom 11 Montenegrin nationals and two members of the
Macedonian community were injured in a massive fi ght between fans of FC “Budukjnost” from
Podgorica and FC “Shkendija” from Tetovo, which occurred at a place called “Sretkovski most” in
front of the passage “Straza”. According to the police, the incident occurred after one of the ten
buses transporting fans of “Shkendija” who attended the match in Kichevo stopped on the road,
and on the opposite side of the road encountered two buses transporting fans of FC “Budukjnost”
to the match with “Vardar” Skopje. Fans of FC “Shkendija” started throwing stones at the buses
which stopped and then Montenegrin fans got out of the bus, and thus started a huge fi ght in which
stones and other objects were used for fi ghting. Due to the severity of the incident, two Montenegrin
fans were taken to the Emergency Center in Skopje after receiving medical aid, while the other nine
injured Montenegrin fans received medical aid at the hospital in Gostivar.
Date, time and location of the incident: 21 February, at 12:30, at the “Straza” passage
Source of information: Electronic media SportClub and Makfax.
Victim(s) involved: 13 persons, out of whom 2 severely injured and nine less severely injured fans of
FC “Budukjnost” as well as two less severely injured fans of FC “Shkendija”
Type of the crime(s): Violence (Article 386, CC), Participation in a fi ght (Article 132, CC), Heavy bodily
injury (Article 131, CC), Bodily injury (Article 130, CC), Causing hatred, discord or intolerance on
national, racial, religious and other discriminatory ground (Article 319, CC).
Perpetrator(s): A group of an unknown number of FC “Shkendija” fans.
Brief description of the incident with bias indicators: In this incident which happened at a sporting
event, the bias motive is ethnicity, nationality or language and bias indicators are:
1. Difference in ethnicity – the members of the fan clubs (Varvari and Balisti) are of a different ethnicity;
2. Time – the incident happened after a football match between fan clubs/team supporters which are
of a different ethnicity.
Status of the case: Filed criminal charges against 14 persons for the crime of “Participating in a fi ght”.
Response of Local Authorities: In MOI’s response to the Committee’s request for public information
regarding this incident, it is stated that after complete documenting and clearing out of the criminal
event, the outer offi ce of Criminal Affairs in PS Gostivar fi led criminal charges before the competent
Public Prosecutor’s Offi ce in Gostivar on 22.02.2016 against 14 people including 11 citizens of the Republic of Montenegro and 3 nationals based on the existence of grounds for suspicion that the
perpetrators are guilty of the crime “Participation in fi ght” stipulated in Article 132 of the Criminal Code.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: These types of incidents call into question the safety
in the country in general, the coexistence of different ethnic groups in the society and the safety of
people attending or near sports matches.
