Macedonia issues first sentence for parliament violence

By bne IntelliNews October 13, 2017

A Macedonian court has sentenced the attacker of a former opposition MP to four years in prison, media in Skopje said on October 12. The assault took place during the protests in the parliament earlier this year.

This is the first prison sentence for the incidents in the parliament, when a group of demonstrators stormed the building and assaulted opposition MPs. 

Radmila Sekerinska, who now serves as defense minister, was attacked during the protest in the Assembly on April 27. Secerinska was pulled by the hair during the incident, which was showed in a TV footage.

Sekerinska is a member of the then opposition, now ruling, Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM). Party leader Zoran Zaev and other MPs from his party were among over 100 people attacked. 

65-year-old Pance Angelov said that the verdict is too strong and that he will file an appeal, broadcaster Telma said.

Angelov could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for this offence.

Sekerinska was not present at the latest trial but at the previous hearing she asked for other attackers and organisers of the protests to be held responsible.

The SDSM came to power at the end of May ending a decade of rule by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party.

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