Ljube Boškoski

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Ljube Boškoski Љубе Бошкоски
24 October 1960 - present (Age 46)
Place of birth	Tetovo; Republic of Macedonia, Yugoslavia
Allegiance	Republic of Macedonia
Years of service	1998 - 2002 Republic of Macedonia (Minister of Interior)
Rank	Minister of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia
Unit	Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM)

Ljube Boškoski (Macedonian: Љубе Бошкоски) (born October 24, 1960 in Tetovo, present-day Republic of Macedonia) was the former minister of internal affairs of the Republic of Macedonia. He commanded special police forces during the 2001 Macedonia conflict, which were, however, accused by the ICTY of war crimes.

1 Killing of Pakistani citizens
2 Trials
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Killing of Pakistani citizens

On March 2, 2002 at approximately 4:00 am, seven supposedly 'armed militants', six of them being Pakistani citizens and another being an Indian citizen, were shot dead in Rastanski Lozja near the village of Ljuboten close to the Serbian-Macedonian border. The men were shot by Macedonia's special police unit Lions or Lavovi (Лавови) which is a tactical police squad formed after the 2001 Macedonia conflict in order to aid against acts of terrorism or for emergency deployment in rural combat areas.[1]

The murders caused public outrage in Pakistan and the victims' families accused Macedonian officials of kiling the men as an act of further enhancing their status in the War on Terror which Macedonia supports. International media have claimed the men were killed "'to impress the US" in what Macedonian police spokeswoman, Mirjana Konestka, claims "...was an act of sick mind..." and that "They lost their lives in a stags murder."[2]

Ljube Boškoski, whom many believe ordered the killings, denies any allegations made by the media and the victims' families. Boškoski made a statement suggesting that the men were associated with a terrorist group and had planned attack on the British, American and German embassies in the Macedonian capital of Skopje.[3]

[edit] Trials

Succeeding the allegations, The Parliamentary Commission for Mandate-Immunity deprived him of his parliamentary immunity and reported himself in the police station in Zagreb. A wanted circular was issued and a request for his trial in Croatia was submitted by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Macedonia, Boškoski was then detained in a prison in Pula.

After 6 months of investigation his trial was acquitted and did not commence due to a request by the Court for Military Crime in Hague for his deportation to be tried for war crimes during the Albanian-Macedonian conflict. On April 22, 2005 the Principal Court in Skopje acquitted the 4 individuals involved in the case (now known as Rastanski Lozja after the location in which it took place) and it is now expected that the Court in Pula (which temporarily suspended the case due to Boškoski's deportation to Hague) will acquit Boškoski on charges of involvement in the murder of the 6 Pakistani citizens and 1 Indian citizen.^[1]