Six Albanians Jailed for Macedonia ‘Terror’ Murders

Alil Demiri, Afrim Ismailovic, Agim Ismailovic, Fejzi Aziri, Haki Aziri and Sami Ljuta were found guilty on Monday of killing five ethnic Macedonians at Orthodox Easter in 2012 and given the longest possible sentence for terrorism offences, life in prison.

The court said that the murder was planned and carried out in a “vicious manner”.

A seventh man, Rami Sejdi, who was initially charged with helping the group commit the murders, was acquitted. Alil Demiri and Afrim Ismailovic were sentenced in absentia because they are in prison in Kosovo, serving jail terms for the illegal possession of weapons.

The killings sparked violent protests back in 2012 and police on Monday visibly boosted their presence around the court and in central Skopje amid fears of another outbreak of inter-ethnic unrest after the passing of the verdict.

Judge Ivica Stefanovski called for the court's decision to be received peacefully.

“Despite the different ethnicity of the defendants and the victims, the verdict should not affect inter-human relations,” Stefanovski said.

Prosecutor Gordana Geskovska told the court at the beginning of this month that the murder was an act of terror carried out in order to provoke ethnic strife between the Macedonian majority and the country’s large Albanian minority.

But defence lawyer Naser Raufi said in his closing arguments however that the seven accused had nothing to do with the murder, dismissing prosecution claims that the defendants were terrorists and raising doubts about the forensic material presented by the prosecution.

All the convicted men have the right to appeal against the verdict.

According to the charges, the two fugitives, Alil Demiri and Afrim Ismailovic, killed five...