Harsher Charges Urged for Macedonia Parliament Attack

Legal experts suspect that the charges raised against nine alleged participants in the April 27 violence in parliament are too mild and may be part of a plan to prevent them from ever standing trial for much more serious offences.

The prosecution charged the nine suspects with "participation in a violent crowd that prevented police officials from performing [their] duty".

The envisaged punishment for these charges ranges from three months to three years in jail, which many think is too lenient considering the evidence presented by the footage shot by media during the violence.

"A series of criminal acts were committed. From attempted murder, violence, to [infliction of] severe physical injuries... When you try to attack someone's head with [camera] stand, you can kill him on the spot," said lawyer Aleksandar Nakov.

In April 27, just minutes after the new parliamentary majority elected Talat Xaferi as new parliament speaker, paving the way for the election of a new government, supporters of the former ruling VMRO DPMNE party stormed parliament, injuring some 100 people, including journalists and ten MPs from the new majority.

Video footage showed the likely next Prime Minister and Social Democrat party leader Zoran Zaev bleeding after being injured in the head, the head of the DPA-Movement for Reforms, Zojadin Sela, being beaten unconscious and dragged across the parliament floor by his attackers, as well as many other violent outbursts against MPs.

The violence continued for around two hours when parliament was left with an insufficient police presence.

"The prosecution has only proven that it is completely incapable, incompetent and under political party influence," lawyer Zvonko Davidovic told...