Technical equipment in value of over 24,000 EUR was donated today to the Unit for prosecuting crimes perpetrated by persons with police authority and members of the Prison Police, part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption in North Macedonia.
Prosecutor Vilma Ruskovska from the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Organized Crime and Corruption in Skopje welcomed the support dedicated to the External Oversight Mechanism (EOM), stressing the importance of this donation in the process of ensuring improved protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“Given that this prosecutor’s office is the sole and independent state institution which prosecutes this category of crimes, it has to be several steps ahead of those prosecuted, particularly if they are police officers who have misused the trust of the state and violated the basic human rights and freedoms. In addition to the commitment, our work necessitates modern technological tools that are used in the investigation, as well as our daily work. We are all witnesses that technology is changing quickly, hence the need to constantly upgrade the equipment. I would like to thank the representatives of the EU and the Council of Europe for their trust in our work. Their donation contributes to higher efficiency and effectiveness of the prosecutors and investigators in the Unit for prosecuting crimes perpetrated by persons with police authority and members of the Prison Police,” said prosecutor Ruskovska.
The Head of the Operations in the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, Lejla Dervisagic highlighted the continuous co-operation with the stakeholders in the efforts to advance the EOM and contribute to building a more secure and humane society that respects and protects the rights of every person who believes to have been victim of ill-treatment by officers with police authority.
“The Council of Europe has been working closely with the authorities in setting and building the capacities of the Mechanism, which should be completed with additional investigators within the Prosecutor’s Office. The results so far are encouraging, and today's provided equipment is expected to further support the prosecutors in their important work,” emphasised Dervisagic.
Freek Janmaat, Head of Section at the European Union Delegation in Skopje, emphasized the importance to have an efficient system to address lack of accountability and impunity for ill-treatment and other unlawful acts committed by officers with police authorities. “The EOM with independent, effective and efficient investigations and prosecutions of acts of ill-treatment and unlawful acts is an important element to systematically address police impunity and lack of accountability. Citizens should trust that any allegations of such grave human rights violations will be duly investigated and not simply dismissed. Full and unconditional respect for human rights, as one of the fundamental European values, is anchored at the heart of the accession process”, underlined Freek Janmaat.
The equipment, which consists of 8 laptops, 3 printers, 3 scanners, and 1 multifunctional scanning and printing device, was provided through the joint European Union and Council of Europe action on “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the external oversight mechanism in North Macedonia”, which aims at strengthening the capacities of key actors in the penitentiary system and the EOM over the work of the officers with police authority, including the Ministry of Interior (Department for Internal Control, Criminal Investigations and Professional Standards), as well as the Ombudsman – Mechanism for Civil Control.
The External Oversight Mechanism (EOM) was established with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe in 2018. It focuses on the cases where persons with police authority while being on or off duty, use force, coercion or serious threat, leading to death, serious bodily injury, bodily injury, unlawful arrest, torture and another cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
This initiative, which follows a continuous capacity building and institutional support with all the EOM key stakeholders, is conducted in the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022", implemented in close co-operation with the Unit for prosecuting crimes perpetrated by persons with police authority and members of the Prison Police, Public Prosecutor’s Office on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption.
