Protesters And Police Scuffle Over Journalist's Imprisonment

SKOPJE -- Hundreds of demonstrators protesting the imprisonment of investigative journalist Tomislav Kezarovski scuffled with police in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on October 23.

The scuffles broke out when police blocked the way to a museum where journalists and media rights defenders dressed in black planned to gather to protest Kezarovski's sentence. Police said the museum was closed due to a national holiday.

No one was hurt in the scuffles.

On October 21, a Skopje court sentenced Kezarovski, a reporter for the "Nova Makedonija" daily, to 4 1/2 years in jail for revealing the identity of a protected witness in a high-profile murder case. Kezarovski was arrested in May for an article he wrote in 2008.

Kezarovski insists the witness did not have protected status when he wrote the article. The OSCE has condemned Kezarovski’s imprisonment.