Police Threaten Serbian Orthodox Believers in Macedonia

(Forum 18) – Nearly a hundred members of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s branch in Macedonia were questioned by police and searched after they backed the church’s failed registration application. Some were threatened they would be kicked out of their jobs. Police also pressured them to sign a declaration that they have abandoned the SOC for the rival, government-backed Macedonian Orthodox Church. When police questioned church member Goran Bogatinoski in Prilep in early January, they asked him why he allowed SOC monks to stay in his house and why there were icons in his home. Father David of the Archbishopric complained to Forum 18 of a “new wave” of police intimidation launched last December. The interior ministry denies that police questioned anyone just for signing the registration application.