Today the Skopje Basic Court will hold the first hearing in the slander case against Bujar Osmani. The case was brought on by Bill Nicholov, a Macedonian human rights activist from Canada, who is helping organize support for Macedonian groups in Bulgaria, Albania and Greece.

In an interview, Osmani blamed Nicholov of being “anti-American” and undermining American interests. This happened at the height of the Bulgarian campaign to open clubs in Macedonia, often named after Nazi collaborators, which greatly increased tensions between the two countries. Macedonians in Bulgaria also opened a club, in Blagoevgrad, named after poet Nikola Jonkov Vapcarov, but Osmani, and the 360 degrees news outlet, both alleged that Russian interests are behind this club, prompting Nicholov to sue them both.

Osmani and 360 Degrees are highly critical of those who dissent against the regime and U.S. anti-Macedonian policies and crackdown on human rights and civil liberties. The lawsuits are for violations of the Law on Civil Liability for Insult and Defamation. On October 27, 2022, 360 Degrees published a blatantly false, insulting and defamatory article about Macedonian Human Rights Movement International and MHRMI President Bill Nicholov. In an interview with BTV, on October 27, 2022, and published on 360 Degrees on October 28, 2022, foreign minister of the Macedonia regime, Bujar Osmani, made blatantly false, insulting and slanderous statements about MHRMI and Nicholov. Osmani continued with further blatantly false, insulting and slanderous statements during a press conference on November 11, 2022. As publicized by 360 Degrees, it is currently the recipient of funding by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and, as per NED, it is funded largely by the U.S. Congress. 360 Degrees has also received vast amounts of funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), confirmed by USAID here, and the British and Dutch embassies. Screenshots are available here. The regime in Macedonia was installed and remains fully backed by the United States in order to force through the illegal name change and other U.S. foreign policy goals. Background information on the exponential rise of U.S.-led human rights abuses against Macedonians is available here and throughout our website, said the Macedonian Human Rights Movement International, an organization headed by Nicholov.