Citizens who received fines for violating covid-19 measures during the pandemic, and then refused to pay the fine, will be amnestied because there is no room in the prisons. The proposal, says Minister of Justice Nikola Tupanceski in an interview with “360 Degrees”, came from the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje and they accepted it. The decision is ready for voting in the Parliament.

According to the analysis of the government department, the amnesty will release over 1,200 people. According to Minister Tupanceski, the violators are not criminals, but people whose fines are about to be transformed into prison sentences.

We accepted the idea of ​​the Criminal Court – Skopje because we saw it as an idea that could help. This is not about people who have committed crimes, who, according to their personal anamnesis are criminals in the true sense of the word. These are people who violated the covid-measures and our criminal code stipulates, most often fined. We are talking about more than 1,200 people who, practically, if they do not pay the fine, in a short time the fine will be transformed into a prison sentence. This idea of ​​the Criminal Court, since the bill is ready, is in parliamentary procedure. We have to be quick, because if we don’t pass the law on time, then its implementation will be delayed, said the Minister of Justice.

But if all those who have not paid their fines are amnestied, what will happen to those who were responsible enough to at least pay their fines in the state budget? Often, the fines were between 1,000 and 2,000 euros. Asked if those who paid will be refunded, Minister Tupanceski replied that the focus is now elsewhere.

The amnesty applies to those whose fine will be transformed into a prison sentence. Those who have already paid the imposed fine is an issue that can be thought about, but the focus is on the persons for whom the fine would be transformed into a prison sentence, says Tupanceski.