A man in handcuffs, inside a police station, surrounded by officers. That is the textbook definition of a situation where one side holds total control and the other has no physical ability to defend itself. According to the criminal complaint, it was in exactly that state that two Struga police officers punched and kicked him.

The Interior Ministry's Department for Internal Control, Criminal Investigations and Professional Standards filed a criminal complaint against T.M., a police officer at the Struga Police Station, and I.Š., senior officer for traffic accident inspections at the Struga Road Traffic Safety Police Unit. The offence is „mistreatment in the performance of duty“ under Article 143 of the Criminal Code. The complaint went to the specialised unit prosecuting crimes committed by persons with police powers.

Both men are suspended, their service weapons and ammunition have been seized, and disciplinary proceedings are running against them in parallel.

Here is the detail worth holding on to: the incident took place on 14 May 2026. The complaint only reached the public now. Almost two and a half months passed between what happened inside that station and the day citizens learned about it. Some will say internal affairs was simply being thorough. But thoroughness and silence are not the same thing, and the gap between them is paid for in public trust.

That the system reacted this time is a fact and should not be dismissed - there is a complaint, there is a suspension, there are proceedings, there is a specialised unit doing its job. That is more than usually happens. The remaining question is not whether internal control exists, but how long a case like this travels through it before it acquires a name, an outcome and a verdict. Because anything left without an outcome gets repeated next time with exactly the same ease.

Initials stay initials while proceedings are ongoing - the law requires that, and fair enough. But when it is over, the public has a right to know what the court decided. Otherwise „they will answer for it“ stays what it has been many times before: a verb in the future tense.