Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has found former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski not guilty of failing to investigate and punish crimes committed in Macedonia in 2001, while former police officer Johan Tarčulovski has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

The case concerned alleged crimes committed against ethnic Albanians in the village of Ljuboten near Skopje between 12 and 15 August 2001. On 12 August 2001, a Macedonian police unit under Tarčulovski’s command entered Ljuboten, shooting and killing six unarmed ethnic Albanians, as well as severely mistreating 13 other residents. One of these residents subsequently died after being beaten along with nine others at the Mirkovci police station in Skopje.

The case is the Tribunal’s first and only case relating to crimes committed on the territory of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during the armed conflict in the country in 2001.

Boškoski was charged on the basis of his command responsibility for failing to investigate the crimes and punishing those who were responsible. The Trial Chamber found that while evidence revealed “a serious failure of the functioning of the police and the responsible Macedonian authorities” it had not been established that Boškoski failed to take the necessary measures for the punishment of the police.

Johan Tarčulovski, a former police officer acting as an Escort Inspector in the President’s Security Unit in the Ministry of the Interior, was held to have had a direct role in the incident in Ljuboten. Tarčulovski was found individually responsible for ordering, planning and instigating the crimes although the relatively low-level officer was not deemed to have participated in a joint criminal enterprise.  The Chamber found that Tarčulovski was himself acting under orders during the operation.

The judges found that the operation in Ljuboten was not a law enforcement operation but a “means of retaliation and would serve as a warning of the consequences of support in the village for the NLA (Albanian National Liberation Army).”

Boškoski will be released from the detention unit upon completion of relevant procedures while Tarčulovski will remain in the Tribunal’s custody before being transferred to the state where the remainder of his sentence will be enforced.

Ljube Boškoski
Johan Tarčulovski

Press release
Summary of Judgement