Skopje, 26 September 2023 (MIA) - The draft-law on amnesty is set to be discussed at a Government session on Tuesday and then forwarded to the Parliament. Last week, the Government sent the bill back to the legislation sector for further alignment with competent institutions.

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said yesterday the draft-law related to minor offenses not cases of the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO), April 27 events, and prosecuted officials.

Earlier this month, the Justice Ministry said it has drafted the law that proposes granting full amnesty 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 does not 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, said the Ministry.

It added that the amnesty also does not 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.

In addition, the amnesty does not 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 does not apply to convicts who, until its entry into force, are subject to an arrest warrant due to being unavailable to the authorities.