Macedonia Trial on Smuggling of Migrants Before its Closure

August 31, 2007

Comment: In June 2007, the Macedonian media reported on the arrests of a number of Macedonian citizens alleged for smuggling and trafficking in human beings. One of the articles was selected for the press review (The Danube operation arrested 66 traffickers of migrants, dated 2007-06-02).

Within very few months from the arrest of these persons, the Macedonian authorities managed to bring the case to the court and the court verdict, as stated in the present article is expected within one week. As in the previous article, this one too refers to charges against these persons for facilitating trafficking in human beings, even though the evidence presented so far at least in the media, points out to only cases of smuggling. It remains to be seen whether the court will find the accused guilty of trafficking in human beings too.

(This Press review is under the framework of EIDHR funded project, implemented jointly with Open Gate – La Strada – Macedonia)