Gjorgje Marjanovic, a distinguished criminal law professor from the Skopje university, has died aged 82.

Marjanovic was a dissident in the period of Communist Yugoslavia, for his call to end criminalization of speech and in the mid 1980ies. After Macedonia declared independence, he founded the first non-Communist party, a principled pro-democracy movement called League of Democracy, which had significant influence in shaping of public opinion, despite its poor electoral showing. He led the party until 2006. He was beloved by his students for his quirky lecturing style, and was known for his well read editorials published in daily “Dnevnik”.