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The reaction on the sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment to the paedophile Trajce Petkovski from Bogomila passed by the Judicial Court in Veles for sexual assault of his daughter and her friend, children with mental impairments in development, as well as domestic violence and battery of his wife
On the verdict passed on 23 September, 2008, to Trajce Petkovski for raping two 12-year-old girls with developmental impairments with only 15 years’ of prison; the First Children’s Embassy in the World - Megjashi on 24 September, 2008, sent a reaction, repeating the revolt and displeasure for the unsuitable punishment to the brutal criminal act of molestation and rape of two minors. We also demanded that Trajce Petkovski be deprived from his right to parenthood in accordance with the Family Law, Articles 90 and 91, where it is stated that if the Center for Social Work finds out about the danger of abuse of the right to parenthood or danger of severe neglect of parental duties, the Centers are obliged to take immediate measures for child protection.

We also believe that the Public Prosecutor should begin procedure for revision of the verdict of the Judicial Court in Veles and to appeal for this judicial decision which gave him only 15 years of prison, as too small a sentence for such a cruel and heavy criminal act.

The First Children’s Embassy in the World - Megjashi has reacted several times demanding that the judges sentence the paedophiles - children rapists,  with the most severe sentence of life imprisonment, until the state provided conditions which would assure that the paedophiles will not recuperate.

We think that the paedophile Trajce Petkovski meets all the criteria for life imprisonment in accordance with the Article 188 from the Criminal Law where it is stated: (4) If as a result from the acts in Paragraphs 1 and 2, there is a severe physical injury, death or other difficult consequences, or the act has been committed by a group of people or in especially cruel or humiliating manner, the perpetrator will be sentenced to at least ten years’ of prison or with life imprisonment.

Also, Megjashi on this particular case, reacted with an appeal for a life sentence as a measure of punishment, since paedophiles which are imprisoned, serving the sentence for the criminal act of child abuse, do not undergo safe and long-term therapy. Adequately, there is no guarantee nor measures that they will not recuperate the crime. On the contrary, the practice has shown that even after serving the sentence, paedophiles in most cases do recuperate.

We would also like to address the parents, schools, citizen organizations and the media to pay more attention to the prevention since every child can be a potential victim and can very easily fall in the arms of perpetrators.