What happened: Three migrants from Morocco were robbed by fi ve unknown armed perpetrators in
the vicinity of village Grciste, Valandovo. At fi rst, one person offered to drive them to the border for a
compensation of 130 EUR, after which, four others approached and under the threat of fi rearm, took
their backpacks and a mobile telephone.
Date, time and location of the incident: December 25th, 08:00hrs, in the vicinity of village Grciste,
Valandovo.
Source of information: The electronic media makfax.com.
Victim(s) involved: Three Moroccan nationals.
Type of the crime(s): Robbery (Art.237 CCRM).
Perpetrator(s): Five unknown perpetrators.
Brief description of incident with bias indicators: In this incident, the bias motive is the ethnic origin,
citizenship or language, and the bias indicators are:
1. Difference in ethnic background– the ethnic background of the perpetrators and the victim differ;
the victim is a member of a group (Moroccan migrants) that is overwhelmingly outnumbered by
members of another group (Macedonian population) in the area where the incident occurred;
2. Pattern of previous incidents – this incident is the latest of a growing trend of robberies and assaults
against migrants.
Status of the case: Case reported to local authorities, status unknown.
Response of local authorities: To the moment of writing this report, the MOI hasn’t answered upon
the Request for public information that the Committee has sent in relation to this incident.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This incident puts into question the safety of migrants
entering and passing through the country.
