Macedonia to Approve Amnesty for Parliament Attackers

An amnesty law, which the Macedonian parliament's "committee on reconciliation" finished drafting last Wednesday, is expected to be approved this week by the same commission, after which it will be sent for urgent adoption at a plenary session.

Although the draft has not been published, its outlines are known.

On Friday, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev repeated that the law will offer an amnesty to those who did not personally commit violence in last year's rampage in parliament and who did not organize the events.

He has insisted that the political amnesty will not interfere in the work of the judiciary.

However, he also said that law would prescribe milder sentences for the people who stormed parliament who do not receive an outright amnesty and are currently on trial.

"The articles in the law will envisage the future issue of punishments but not for [the charge of] terrorism, which envisages sentences longer than 10 years. Instead, sentences will be smaller - but there will be sentences," Zaev said.

Currently, 33 people, including former police top officials and opposition VMRO DPMNE MPs and supporters, are on trial charged with "terrorist endangerment of national security" for their involvement in the events of April 27, 2017, when some 100 people were injured.

The prosecution is investigating the case further and has not excluded further charges being brought against more people who might be implicated in the organization of the events.

Exactly how many of the defendants will be eligible for the amnesty, which Zaev insisted was needed to reconcile a divided society, is unknown.

However, the amnesty will certainly apply to five opposition MPs on trial, three of whom participated in...