The Bitola prosecutor’s office has issued an order for an investigation against an individual and a company for the criminal offense of damaging or destroying goods under temporary protection, cultural heritage, or natural rarities.
“Between November 2022 and March 3, 2023, the person responsible for the legal entity in the village of Zhivojno, municipality of Novaci, took actions that destroyed the eastern periphery of the archaeological site Vlahu in the village of Zhivojno. The site is a registered immovable property, part of the archaeological map of North Macedonia, and is located within the concession area designated by the government for the exploitation of mineral resources-coal by the suspected legal entity,” said the prosecutor’s office.
Despite knowing that the archaeological site where excavation is prohibited was located within the concession area, the first accused hired a contractor to extract coal without adhering to the provisions of Article 13 of the Concession Agreement and the guidelines given by representatives of the Bitola Museum and the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
As a result of these activities, the entire eastern periphery of the archaeological site was destroyed, as confirmed by authorized personnel from the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Bitola Museum.
The public prosecutor has submitted a proposal to the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje for a measure to secure the legal entity-a ban on mining coal. This ban was requested because further excavation in the area could lead to the complete destruction of the entire archaeological site Vlahu, due to the exceptionally deep excavation already carried out, which destroyed the eastern periphery of the site and could potentially erode the archaeological materials further.
In addition, there are two other sites subject to the same protection regime within the same concession area. Given the concessionaire’s behavior and failure to comply with legal and contractual obligations to protect cultural heritage, the public prosecutor assesses that there is a real risk that these other sites will also be irreversibly destroyed if excavation is not prohibited.
