Tamara Causidis

Macedonian journalists in the "Board for Kezarovski's support" staged a protest in front of the Court of Appeals in Skopje on Friday, condeming a court verdict announced on Thursday, which failed to order the release of the reporter.

Many Macedonian journalists are kept on a short leash with fixed-term contracts that are often prolonged for years without the potential of permanent employment, said the new study carried out by Macedonia's Independent Journalists' Trade Union, SSNM.

Macedonian journalists on Thursday laid 23 flowers in the city centre, at the spot where police obstructed a protest organized in support of Kezarovski one year ago.

The flowers symbolized 23 years of Macedonian independence and democracy.

Eighty per cent of journalists in Macedonia think that conditions are worsening, 17 per cent say that they are stagnant and only 3 per cent believe that they are improving, according to new research published by Macedonia’s Independent Journalists' Trade Union, SSNM.