37
values. Following the adoption of CCM, the Law on Criminal Procedure, the Law on Execution of Sanctions
and the Penal Code were adopted in 1997.
95
With CCM from 1996 the foundations for the new legislation were laid, such as: criminal-legal
philosophy of liberal criminal law, criminal law of the rule of law, supremacy of individual rights and
freedoms, the criminal law to comply with the new system of values, the establishment of rational and
effective criminal justice system to combat and prevent crime, aligning with the European criminal law,
monitoring and implementation of the international obligations of the Republic of Macedonia etc.
96
CCM
was renewed in 1999 for the first time which brought changes in
the specific section,
dominating the changes
that intensified the repression of corruption. The second novel dates from 2002 when it made minor
amendments to the specific section of CCM. The third amendment of 2003 provided a stricter regime for the
acquisition and possession of weapons and tightening of criminal law repression of illegal possession of
weapons.
97
The first novel in 1999 was motivated by the need to stiffen the criminal law of corruption,
repression, and besides, they had some other changes in the specific section for harmonization
with European
legislation, the search for criminal legal response to new forms of Organized Crime and fulfilment of the
international obligations of the state. In fact the goal was to fight corruption, changes in CCM should have
been a part of complementary strategy to combat corruption, which meant adopting anti-corruption
legislation, namely the Law on Prevention of Corruption (adopted in 2002 when it was set up such as it is
preventive instrument by establishing the National Commission Against corruption) and the Anti-money
Laundering (whose adoption was prolonged until 2001) and changes in procedural law, in order to introduce
the so-called “special investigative measures” necessary to combat organized crime.
98
With the novel from
2002 approach to amending the provisions of the CCM with some other already adopted legislation or
international obligations the state in terms of cybercrime, as well as the implementation of the Palermo
Convention of 2002 for the prevention of organized crime and the protocols of the Convention with the
bringing the human trafficking provision in (article. 418-a).
99
The second stage of the reform of the substantive criminal law began in 2002, and ended with the
amendments that were made in 2004, with the adoption of the Law on Amendments to the CCM on 19th
March 2004.
100
The main motives for joining the changes were the obligations stemming from the European
integration processes in Macedonia (the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU)
and serious changes in the image of crime in terms of scale, dynamics and emergence of new, serious and
unconventional forms. Changes to the CCM 2004 are a serious intervention, characteristic of the set of
innovations that first entered as institutes in our criminal law.
101
Besides changes in the regulations relating
to the offense and the criminal responsibility, an important innovation is the introduction of criminal liability
for legal entities and consequently, the introduction of appropriate penalties for legal equity. In the system of
sanctions are accepted, comparatively widely prevalent, alternative measures. The repertoire of punishments
has expanded, while the repertoire of security measures has contracted relocating the existing system of
penalties. Changes have been made in the regulations of the criminal law measures: confiscation of property
and property and assets confiscation.
102
More changes have been made in the specific section. One part of
them refer to tightening the criminal - legal repression by prescribing certain types of qualified incrimination,
raising the minimum of the prison sentence to three or four years or ordering harsher sentence. Some of the
existing incriminations are redefined, and new incriminations are added.
After the novel from 2004, until 2007, there were three interventions in the Criminal Code. The first
one was an unsuccessful attempt to amend the Criminal Code in 2005 in order to introduce a regulation
(article 38 d) by replacing imprisonment with fine, which was quickly pushed and undeveloped, without
appropriate procedural solutions resulted in a scandalous court decisions for replacement the final sentences
95
Vlado Kambovski: Foundations and Directions for Reform of the Macedonian Criminal Legislation. Macedonian Review of
Criminal Law and Criminology, year 1, no. 1 (1994): 33
96
Kambovski Vlado and Tupancheski Nikola, Criminal Law - Specific Section. University St. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Law
Justinianus Primus (2011): 8-9
97
Vlado Kambovski Criminal Code, an integrated text - preface, short explanation and registry terms- second edition. Official
Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, Skopje (2011): 15-16
98
Vlado Kambovski Penal - Legislative Reform before the Challenges of the XXI century. Bato and Design, Skopje (2002): 338-380
99
Vlado Kambovski Second Stage of the Reform of the Criminal Law. Macedonian Review of Criminal Law and Criminology year
11 no. 3 (2004): 23-39
100
Vlado Kambovski Penal - Legislative Reform before the Challenges of the XXI century. Bato and Design, Skopje (2002): 381
101
The innovations in the general section can be divided into three groups: changes of some general regulations statute the criminal
liability of legal persons and the reform of the penal sanctions.
102
More on confiscation of assets and property, see: Tatiana Ashtalkoska, Money Laundering and Confiscation of Property and
Proceeds Acquired by Criminal Offense. Lawyer 191 (2008)