Court Gives Go-Ahead to Macedonian Disputed Lustration Law

The court on Wednesday flatly rejected all motions filed against the government backed law refusing to discuss the 14 disputed provisions that mainly tackled the time span of the law and the range of professions subjected to checkups.

“A procedure is not opened for the articles 1, 3, 4, 14, 15, 18, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36 and 40” the court’s press service informed briefly.

The provisions were contested in September 2012 by the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and by the retired lawyer, Stamen Filipov in two separate motions before the court.

They acted shortly after earlier that year a new lustration law was adopted thanks exclusively to the votes in parliament of the ruling majority led by VMRO DPMNE party.

Court’s decision “obstructs the constitutional order of the state to a large extent. Ever since [last year] the court underwent personal changes, we noticed change in its decision making course, and we suspected that our motions will be rejected”, says the head of the Helsinki Committee, Uranija Pirovska.

“We got confirmation that the court which is undoubtedly influenced by the executive power, has the intention to act inconsistently”, Pirovska told Balkan Insight recalling that on two previous occasions the court scrapped similar provisions.

This is the first time since 2008, when the first lustration law was adopted, that the Constitutional Court flatly rejects the motions against the law. During the first two times when the law was caught up in legal disputes, the court scrapped some of its key provisions.

Ruling VMRO DPMNE, pushed for a new law after the Constitutional Court scrapped 12 provisions of the old law back in 2012.

The Court then ruled that it...