Skopje, 19 September 2023 (MIA) – The government at its session on Tuesday decided that the draft Law on Amnesty, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, needs additional harmonization with competent institutions.

“At today's session, the government reviewed the draft Law on Amnesty prepared by the Ministry of Justice. The decided that the draft Law on Amnesty needs additional harmonization with competent institutions,” the government said in a press release.

On September 13, the Ministry of Justice said it prepared the draft Law on Amnesty, which grants full amnesty or reduces prison sentences for minor offences. The law is expected to be adopted at the next session of Government, the Ministry of Justice said.

The draft law has also been delivered to the whips of the parties in Parliament, which, said the Ministry, are to give their remarks and recommendations.

“The goal is to unburden the penitentiaries, considering that the situation in these facilities has been alarming in recent times, and this was highlighted in numerous international reports as well as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture at the Council of Europe,” said the press release.

The law proposes a full amnesty be granted to individuals serving sentences up to six months, while convicts serving a sentence longer than six months, will receive a 30 percent reduction to their sentence.

“The amnesty doesn’t apply to individuals serving life sentences; the crime of murder, crimes against elections, against gender freedom and moral, against the state, against humanity and international law, the crimes ‘abuse of official position and authorization’ from article 353, ‘unscrupulous operation within the service’ from article 353-c, all crimes against public order from article 394 to article 394-d from the Criminal Code, as well as family violence and gender-based violence,” stressed the Ministry of Justice.

The amnesty also doesn’t apply to the crimes of “robbery” from article 237, paragraph 5, and “armed robbery” from article 238, paragraph 5 of the Criminal Code; the crime of “fraud to the detriment of the European Community funds,” from article 249-a; “money laundering and other income from crime” from article 273; “taking bribe” from article 357; “giving bribe” from article 358; “giving reward for unlawful influence” from article 359 of the Criminal Code.

“Additionally, the amnesty doesn’t apply to individuals who committed the crimes after September 1, 2023, nor to individuals who were elected or appointed officials in North Macedonia when they committed the crimes. The amnesty doesn’t apply to convicts that, until its entry into force, are subject to an arrest warrant due to being unavailable to the authorities,” said the Ministry of Justice.