Macedonia's Ombudsman Office has issued a press release on Thursday, regretfully concluding its work has been impeded by an official with the Centar police station where the largest number of detainees following the Wednesday protests are being held.
Namely, in an attempt to complete the necessary files needed to launch a thorough probe, a representative of the Ombudsman Office was not allowed to obtain the necessary documents.
The press release notes the Ombudsman Office is appalled by such conduct given the fact that on Wednesday night, after the news of the arrested people emerged, a team of public attorneys has paid a visit to the police station, which is the reason why it calls on the competent institutions and officials to abide to the laws and stop obstructing its work.
During the visit of the Centar police station, it was concluded that 10 people were detained there, while two other were taken to the Kisela Voda police station, the press release notes. Furthermore, it says a team of the Ombudsman Office representatives talked with the detained individuals who said they took part in the protests, but that they did not commit any kind of violations of the public order, and that they were taken down by members of the rapid deployment police units, who also tied their hands behind their backs.
The Thursday-issued document highlights the Ombudsman Office team closely monitored the entire procedure relating to the detained individuals at the Centar police station - the manner on which they were brought in, their interrogation, their statements - and it has concluded that the procedure was respected in this regard.
However, "the information that during the last night's protests, journalists were hindered from doing their job and that excessive police force was used against them is particularly concerning. This conduct is opposite to the international standards on the respect of the right to information, which could be interpreted as a kind of a pressure over the media, which is unacceptable," the press release states.
In the end, it says that given the announcements the protests will continue in the following days, the Ombudsman Office will continue to monitor the developments.
"All the citizens are urged to peacefully express their dissatisfaction, and the members of the police units are to act with the utmost precaution and high level of professionalism when using means of coercion," the press release concludes.