Nine Domestic Violence Reports in Two Days: In Two Cases a Court Restraining Order Was Broken

If you want to know what an ordinary day in Macedonia looks like, don't read ministers' statements. Read the police bulletin. On 13 and 14 September, in under 48 hours, police registered nine separate reports of domestic and gender-based violence across the country - four in Skopje alone, the rest in Kumanovo, Veles, the Tetovo area, Prilep and Rankovce.

In Kumanovo, at 16:40, a 43-year-old man was detained after a report that he had physically assaulted his 38-year-old wife. In Veles, at 23:50, a 28-year-old man was taken into custody. In the Tetovo area, a 65-year-old was detained after his 62-year-old wife reported that he had attacked her at home. The same report states that he had been subjecting their 49-year-old daughter to physical and psychological violence over a long period.

Skopje: four reports, four completely different constellations

The Skopje cases demolish the picture many people carry in their heads of what "domestic violence" looks like. A 43-year-old woman reported that her former partner had made threats against her and her family. A 26-year-old woman reported being attacked with a blunt object in a home in the Bit Pazar area - by her own mother. A 41-year-old man reported being physically assaulted by his wife. And a 44-year-old woman reported an assault by her husband.

In Rankovce, at 2:30 in the morning, police detained a 41-year-old man after he physically attacked his wife. In Prilep, a 36-year-old woman reported her partner.

What the bulletin hides better than what it reveals

In two of the cases, proceedings concern a report of breaching a court restraining order. That is the detail that deserves particular attention. A restraining order is not a warning - it is a court ruling. When it gets broken, it means the mechanism that was supposed to protect someone had already been triggered once, and had already been ignored once.

How many of these nine reports will end in a verdict? How many will lapse? How many women on this list will come forward again in a few months, with the same address and the same name of the person reported?

After every report, the Interior Ministry announces that "an appropriate submission will follow". Of the nine cases, in three the person was detained. In the rest, "measures are being taken". The difference between those two formulations is the difference between a night in a police station and a night in the same home with the same man.

Nine reports in two days. And that is only the number of those who came forward.