Ljube Boškoski

Infobox Military Person
name=Ljube Boškoski
Љубе Бошкоски
lived=24 October, 1960 – present (Age 47)
placeofbirth=flagicon|SFR Yugoslavia Tetovo, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Macedonia)
placeofdeath=


caption=
nickname=Brother Ljube
allegiance=flag|Republic of Macedonia
serviceyears=1998 – 2002 Republic of Macedonia (Minister of Interior)
rank=Minister of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia
commands=Wolves
Lions
unit=Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM)
battles=2001 Macedonia conflict
portrayedby=
awards=
laterwork=

Ljube Boškoski ( _mk. Љубе Бошкоски) (born 24 October, 1960 in Tetovo, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Macedonia)) known among his supporters as "Brother Ljube" ( _mk. Брат Љубе, "Brat Ljube"), was the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia.

He commandeded a special operations tactical unit of the Macedonian police during the 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia which were later accused by the ICTY of war crimes. Boškoski remains a popular public figure among many Macedonians.

Biography

Ljube Boškoski was born on 24 October, 1960, in the village of Čelopek, Brvenica municipality, on the outskirts of Tetovo in what is now the Republic of Macedonia.

In 1985, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, thereafter working as an apprentice in a court and later as a legal adviser for a health insurance fund in Rovinj, Croatia.

Political career

After the parliamentary elections in 1998 and the success of VMRO-DPMNE, Boškoski was named deputy-director of the Administration for Security and Counter-Intelligence ( _mk. Дирекција за безбедност и контраразузнавање, ДБК) — the domestic intelligence agency of the Macedonian government.

On 31 January, 2001, he was named state secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and on 15 May of the same year, appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by the ruling government. Following the parliamentary elections of 5 September, 2002, he was dismissed from his position as Minister of Internal Affairs and became a Member of Parliament.

In April 2004, Boškoski nominated to run in the presidential elections and had previously collected 10,000 signatures as is required of potential candidates. The State Electoral Commission invalidated his candidacy as he had not fulfilled the requirement that all presidential candidates live in the country for 15 consecutive years prior to nominating.

Raštanski Lozja incident

On 2 March, 2002, at approximately 4:00 a.m. local time (UTC+1 GMT), seven allegedly armed militants, six of them being Pakistani citizens and another being an Indian citizen, were shot dead in Raštanski Lozja near the village of Ljuboten, close to the Macedonian border with Serbia. The men were shot by the Lions ( _mk. "Лавови"), an elite special operations tactical unit formed after the 2001 Macedonia conflict in order to aid against acts of terrorism and for emergency deployment in rural combat areas. [ [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR650092004?open&of=ENG-PAK Macedonia: Unlawful killings must be investigated] Amnesty International Press Release, May 5, 2004]

The murders caused public outrage in Pakistan and the victims' families accused Macedonian officials of killing the men as an act of further enhancing their status in the War on Terror which the Macedonian government supports. The international media claimed the men were killed "to impress the US" in what Macedonian police spokeswoman, Mirjana Konteska, claims was "...an act of a sick mind" and that they had "lost their lives in a staged murder." [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/01/wterr01.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/01/ixworld.html 'Terrorists' killed to impress the US] The Daily Telegraph, April 30, 2004] Senior police officials claimed that the seven men were killed after a police patrol was ambushed by the Pakistani group, but Konteska said a forensics and ballistics investigation confirmed the operation was staged.

Ljube Boškoski, whom many believe ordered the killings, denies the 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 an attack on the British, American and German embassies in the Macedonian capital of Skopje. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/04/wmac04.xml Macedonia victims 'were Pakistani'] , The Daily Telegraph, Chris Jennings, March 4, 2002] A court of law acquitted 4 members of the Macedonian security forces, who were tried as a result of the incident; the court ruled that the killings were not a staged act.

Trial and aftermath

Detainment

Boškoski was detained in Croatia in August 2004, after he was stripped of parliamentary immunity by Macedonia. In December of that year, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) published an indictment against him and Johan Tarčulovski.

In March 2005, he was transferred to the ICTY in The Hague. Boškoski and Tarčulovski were charged with violations of the laws or customs of war during the 2001 Macedonia conflict — a "civil war" between ethnic Albanian members of the NLA and the Macedonian security forces such as the Wolves in 2001, during which, Boškoski was Minister of Internal Affairs.

According to the indictment, between Friday 10 August, 2001, and Sunday 12 August, 2001, a land offensive was launched by Macedonian security forces against ethnic Albanian civilians and property in Ljuboten, a predominantly Albanian village.According to the tribunal, Boškoski, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, "had "de jure" and "de facto" command and control over the members of the police forces which took part in the alleged crimes." The tribunal also claims that "Boškoski knew or had reason to know that the crimes alleged in this indictment had been committed by his subordinates." [ [http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/bos-ii050309e.htm Initial Indictment in the case Boskoski and Tarculovski IT-04-82 ] ] [ [http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/ljube_boskoski_330.html Trial Watch : Ljube Boskoski ] ]

Trial and acquittal

The ICTY trial against Boškoski started on 16 April, 2007, [ [http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pa308e.htm Boškoski and Tarčulovski opening statements on Monday 16 April 2007 presentation of evidence on Monday 7 May 2007 ] ] and ended on 10 July, 2008, he was acquitted of all charges against him. [ [http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/ljube_boskoski_330.html Trial Watch: Ljube Boskoski] ] However, Tarčulovski received 12 years imprisonment.

Return to the Republic of Macedonia

When Boškoski arrived at Skopje Alexander the Great Airport on 11 July, 2008, he symbolically kissed the ground and was welcomed by women in traditional Macedonian clothes. With tears in his eyes. he held a short speech in which he called for brotherhood among the people living in the Republic of Macedonia. Later that day, he appeared at Pella Square in Skopje and was welcomed by Macedonians who travelled from all over the country to the capital city.

References

External links

* [http://www.ljubeboskoski.com.mk/ Official website]
* [http://www.bratlube.com/ Website dedicated to Ljube Boškoski]
* [http://www.ansarburney.org/videolinks/video-macedonia_killings.html News-style program about the killings at Ansar Burney Trust] (Video)