Two young men say police officers beat them while they were tied up: the investigation is being run by the Interior Ministry itself

Two young men from Skopje, aged 21 and 23, say that on Wednesday 7 October police officers smashed their car window, fired a gun, punctured their tyres and then beat them as they lay on the ground with their hands tied. Photos of their injuries have already been published in the media. The Interior Ministry responded with the formula we all know by heart: the case will be examined by the Department for Internal Control, Criminal Investigations and Professional Standards.

In other words - the police will be checking the police.

Whose pistol was it?

At the centre of the case is a service pistol. According to an internal police report cited by the DUI party, the young men took the weapon from a police officer. According to their version, the pistol ended up in their car after the officers smashed the window. In a video published in the media, both say the police chased them on suspicion of having stolen a pistol - and deny doing so.

Neither version has been independently confirmed so far. The ministry has offered not a single word about what actually happened, only a promise: "Once the facts have been established, appropriate measures will be taken in line with the law, and the public will be informed in a timely manner." How often have we read exactly these words - and how many times did we later find out how the inquiry ended?

Politics got there before the investigation

Minister Pance Toškovski ordered the inquiry after the case came out in the media, not before. The DUI demanded the resignation of Deputy Interior Minister Astrit Iseni. The Alliance for Albanians wants the investigation finished without delay, the results made public and those responsible punished if abuse is established. "When you are part of the ministry's leadership, responsibility does not end with political statements," the party said, accusing both the VLEN coalition and Iseni of staying silent.

Party calls for resignations are the easy part. The hard part is answering simple questions: did the officers use firearms, why were the young men beaten if they were already tied up, and who wrote the report about the pistol? If the young men are lying, that has to be shown with evidence. If they are not lying, then the uniform cannot be a shield.

No deadline for the inquiry has been announced. And without a deadline, "informed in a timely manner" can also mean never.