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The American ambassador in Skopje, Angela Ageler, called on Wednesday North Macedonia for a transparent and legal process in the adoption of the amnesty law, saying that the citizens should understand what is happening and what is the need for a law of such.
The Macedonian government sent the amnesty bill to the Parliament on Tuesday, which has fueled many controversies even among the government coalition itself.
"The most important thing for the US and the embassy is that the process is transparent, legal and that the citizens know why such a law is being adopted," Ageler said on Wednesday.
She said that the United States will follow the process closely, adding that it should be "clear and understandable."
"This is not the first amnesty law and it certainly won't be the last," she said.
The legislation provides for the release from prison of persons sentenced to up to six months of imprisonment, while those sentenced to more than six months of imprisonment will benefit from a 30 percent reduction in sentence.
The amnesty will not apply to persons sentenced to life imprisonment, to persons convicted of murder, rape, electoral malpractice, to persons convicted of disruption of public order and peace, for activities against the state, for misuse of official duties, as well as for those convicted of domestic and gender-based violence.
But the Minister of Internal Affairs, Oliver Spasovski, said that the draft law should not be approved "because it will not have effects on the depopulation of prisons", as claimed by the Ministry of Justice, which prepared the draft.
Moreover, the controversy has also been fueled by the possibility that this legislation, if it enters into force, will also amnesty the convicts who helped the perpetrators of the murder of five Macedonian youths in 2012, in the case known as "Monster".
However, the Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski has vowed that his party, SDSM, will seek changes in the legislation to make it impossible to pardon the people involved in this crime.
The draft law is also opposed by the Macedonian and Albanian opposition, who evaluate it as politically motivated, but also as "opening the prison doors for criminals"./REL
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