What’s the human life worth?
One day after the elections the country was stunned by the news that a member of the police forces brutally killed a young 23 year old man by excessive use of force. This sounds like good morning to the reforms announced by the winning political party that is to continue with the “reforms” from the point at which they stopped.
On the other hand MOI is speechless! After the several attempts by the journalists to get any kind of information, MOI came out with an official statement that no such incident was reported only to be followed by a statement that “death was established, but there were no traces of violence”.
The act committed by the police officer as a consequence of which a young life was lost in an utterly inhumane and brutal way, once again has shown that the police reforms have not provided the desired results and that when it comes to the school of reforms it is one of those pupils who need to repeat the grade.
The day after the elections will also be remembered by the spectacularly “coordinated” operation for the arrest of Ljube Boskovski, the President of the political party “United for Macedonia”. The same evening he was taken before an investigative judge who by default imposed the pre-trial measure.
This operation just like the previous ones was nothing less spectacular and it was accompanied by the internal MOI’s recordings distributed to the media. Once again it was noted that there was excessive use of police forces in a situation in which it was absolutely unnecessary since it was a case of arresting an individual who had not resisted the arrest thus posing no threat to the police officers.
Having in mind Boskovski’s pre-elections campaign one has to ask oneself whether shadow was once again cast over the freedom of speech when it comes to criticising those in power. Is this political revenge and silencing of the articulate critics or is it equal application of the rule of law principle?!
Since in both cases the police once again acted contrary to its competences, the Helsinki Committee condemns the actions of MOI.
Human life is priceless, it is not to be given or taken away, and everybody has a right to freedom and safety. We would like to point out the universal value of human rights and freedoms according to which “All human beings are born free and equal…” “They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood[1]”, as well as that “The right to life of every human is protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally[2]…”
The Helsinki Committee urges for complete and transparent investigation in the case of the murder of the young man followed by efficient outcome and undertaking of adequate measures against the perpetrator of the act. The Helsinki Committee also insists on respect of the principle of presumption of innocence and fair proceedings in the case of Ljube Boskovski!
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[1] Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[2] Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights