SKOPJE 23.06.2017 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia insists journalist Zoran Bozhinovski to be released from detention and be allowed to defend himself from freedom.
We call on the prosecutor Zlatko Bikovski to withdraw the request for detention, and the judge Lenka Davitkova immediately to abolish the detention. The lengthy detention against Bozhinovski no longer serves to effectively carry out the trial, but instead it turns into punishment.
Keeping in custody of a journalist for almost three years, in extradition detention in Serbia and detention in Macedonia, is an unacceptable practice in free and democratic countries.
The release of Bozhinovski will separate Macedonia from a group of authoritarian countries in Europe, such as Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan, where journalists are constantly persecuted.
The new government in Macedonia should publicly within the limits of its competencies push for the release of Bozinovski. It is clear to everyone that the detention measure in Bozhinovski’s case is maliciously exploited by the previous government with the sole purpose of silencing a critical journalist.
Respectfully,
Association of journalists of Macedonia