The Public Prosecutors Office (OJO) rejected a criminal charge against leftist journalist and commentator Branko Trickovski, who was reported for inciting hate speech after a comment calling for President Gjorge Ivanov be shot. Meanwhile actor and opposition VMRO-DPMNE party official Toni Mihajlovski still faces charges because, provoked by this comment by Trickovski, responded in kind.
– The public prosecutor analyzed the editorial published by the person being reported and his comments on a social media network were analyzed by the Department of computer crime and digital forensics. He was also invited to questioning in the OJO office and after all steps the public prosecutor determined that the acts being reported will not be acted upon and don’t contain the elements of the reported crimes, said the Public Prosecutors Office.
According to OJO, the prosecutors also took into account the need to protect the freedom of expression of Trickovski. In his comments he wrote “We should piss Horhe (Ivanov) out as if he’s a kidney stone… the people have the right to hang him by the first chandelier, impale him on the spear of Alexander… have him mummified… shoot him next to a fence like a small ridiculous Ceausescu..”.
“We should piss Horhe (Ivanov) out as if he’s a kidney stone… the people have the right to hang him by the first chandelier, impale him on the spear of Alexander… have him mummified… shoot him next to a fence like a small ridiculous Ceausescu…
Trickoski, a prominent supporter of the ruling SDSM party, is well known for his many similar comments. In rambling posts published in media outlets close to SDSM or on his social media accounts, he would describe in detail how he wants to kill former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. At one point he wished that police officers deployed around the Parliament building are “killed in service of the Great Idiot and be rid of their shi**y lives”, repeating a comment by another SDSM supporter who wished that the police officers are “sent to Kumanovo” – a direct reference to the 2015 terrorist attack in which eight officers were killed. Trickvoski also referred to the newborn child of former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska as a “monster” “which should be thrown into a dumpster”.
Toni Mihalovski, on the other hand, wrote a post directly in response to one of Trickovski’s comments and publicly asked what would happen if I write something similar. “I could kill Trickovski and not bat an eye. God forgive me”, Mihajlovski wrote on his social media account, responding to Trickovski, and wishing to illustrate that people spreading such hatred on social media accounts against their political opponents can also face similar comments.
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