Kuklica: Stojna Faces Two Criminal Complaints but Is Still Charging Entry at the Stone Dolls

Two criminal complaints, neither dismissed. Detained twice in the past month. Two more complaints announced. And entry to the Stone Dolls at Kuklica, one of the best-known tourist attractions in the Kratovo area, is still being charged: 120 denars for locals, 240 denars for foreign visitors.

Stojna from Kratovo, a member of the association "Izvor od Kratovo" and the person in charge of the site's information centre, repeated on the podcast "Pretres so Landov" that she has the right to charge. "I'm not doing anything that isn't legal," she said. According to the Interior Ministry, complaints have been filed against her for obstructing an official in the performance of their duties and for usurping property.

Whose land are the dolls standing on

Her argument is ownership. According to Stojna, the site lies on 70 to 80 percent private and 20 to 30 percent state land. Part of the private land, she says, belongs to her family, and for the rest the association has a permanent-use agreement with the other owners. "Whoever comes onto the land itself, we have the right to tell them what our terms are," she insists.

The association, according to her, has around 200 members, 20 to 30 of them active, and her father is its president. For years they applied for projects with the European Union, UNDP and other organisations. They have also, she says, charged state officials. Asked whether she would charge Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski too, she replied that he should decide for himself whether to donate.

Stojna also accuses Kratovo Municipality of failing to carry out its obligations to manage the site, and she is in a dispute with the Kratovo City Museum as well. She suspects the action against her comes on "orders from a higher level", but didn't say from whom. The host reminded her that she had already spent 68 days in custody - she replied that she was there "for almost nothing".

Where is the state in all this

Leave the complaints aside; that's for the prosecution and the court. The bigger question is how one of the best-known attractions in the Kratovo area got to the point where visitors don't know whom they're paying, what for, or whether they should pay at all. If the land is partly private, why hasn't that been clearly sorted out for years? If the state considers the charge illegal, why is the till still open after two complaints and a spell in custody?

The Stone Dolls have stood there far longer than any property deed. The confusion around them, it seems, will last a good while yet.