THE CONVICTIONS HAVE BEEN OVERTURNED AND OUR COLLEAGUES ARE FINALLY COMING HOME!! JUSTICE PREVAILED BECAUSE WE REFUSED TO STAY SILENT WHILE GOOD PEOPLE WERE WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED!! STAY VIGILANT AS WE ENSURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN IN OUR FIELD!!
June 1, 2015
Final supporters
Dear colleagues and friends,
A year and half
ago, 162 artifacts, most of them ancient golden jewelry, quietly disappeared
from the depots of the National Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. They were
stolen.
Until today the investigation has not revealed the perpetrators of this crime. The stolen objects have not been found, either. Instead, our respected colleagues and members of our Society, Mr. Zlatko Videski – an archaeologist and Mr. Pero Josifovski – a numismatist, who held the position of directors in the Museum were detained, and recently unjustly accused and convicted for negligence and official misconduct which “indirectly caused and helped the alienation of the artifacts”. Three other colleagues, also museum curators and members of the Museum Commission for Acquisition of Museum Objects were detained, and unrelated to the event, unjustly accused in the process, too, for an acquisition of coins from a registered private collection. Ironically, today, these coins are exhibited in the newly opened Archaeological Museum in Skopje as precious rarities.
The reached verdicts are astonishingly high - eight years and eight months imprisonment for Mr. Pero Josifovski, six years and eight months for Mr. Zlatko Videski, and one to three years imprisonment for the three members of the Commission. These sentences are out of common sense and unknown to our judicial system.
Most of the stolen artifacts were found during the large scale systematic excavations at the site Isar, close to the village of Marvinci, at the south of the country. Zlatko Videski is the person who headed these particular excavations, documented the finds and presented them at many archaeological exhibitions. He is one of the best field archaeologists in our country and a man of honour, always working according to his best knowledge and professional and human merits.
The systemic problem of inadequate depots in our museums and the lack of elementary conditions for proper, secure storage of valuable artifacts are not and cannot be masked this way. The social responsibility cannot and must not have personal names only.
On behalf of the Macedonian Archaeological Society, please sign this petition and support so our plea for justice in the name of our colleagues and our profession. Your support is most welcome and precious in our attempt to defend the truth by raising the awareness among the public and the authorities.
We are loud in saying that archaeologists are not criminals and we encourage the police to discover the real robbers and retrieve the stolen cultural heritage.
Thank you for your support.
Macedonian Archaeological Society
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
April 3, 2015
Reached 100 supporters
April 1, 2015
165 Comments
The trade of smuggled and stolen artifacts on the black market is a problem for many countries. It is always worrying to see scape goats being used to hide the ineptitude of authorities in finding the real perpetrators.
Not only managers and the numismatists are to blame but Ministers and governments that do not provide adequate funding to protect cultural heritage.
Blaming the scientists for the poor security surrounding archaeological materials is a terrible miscarriage of justice. You've also now lost two experts whose lives have been dedicated to revealing the amazing history of Macedonia. How was this allowed to happen? Who wanted them to be scapegoats?
This is unbelievable! The problem of inadequate depots is actually the most frequent problem that museum curators can have among others. The directors and the curators cannot do anything but write letters to the State explaining the problem and hope that nothing of this kind will ever happen.
It seems implausible in the extreme that the archaeologists who discovered these objects and are devoted to their study should have been deliberately negligent in arranging for their safe-keeping.
seriously, be sane here
Dear colleagues,
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
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THE CONVICTIONS HAVE BEEN OVERTURNED AND OUR COLLEAGUES ARE FINALLY COMING HOME!! JUSTICE PREVAILED BECAUSE WE REFUSED TO STAY SILENT WHILE GOOD PEOPLE WERE WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED!! STAY VIGILANT AS WE ENSURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN IN OUR FIELD!!
June 1, 2015
Final supporters
Dear colleagues and friends,
A year and half
ago, 162 artifacts, most of them ancient golden jewelry, quietly disappeared
from the depots of the National Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. They were
stolen.
Until today the investigation has not revealed the perpetrators of this crime. The stolen objects have not been found, either. Instead, our respected colleagues and members of our Society, Mr. Zlatko Videski – an archaeologist and Mr. Pero Josifovski – a numismatist, who held the position of directors in the Museum were detained, and recently unjustly accused and convicted for negligence and official misconduct which “indirectly caused and helped the alienation of the artifacts”. Three other colleagues, also museum curators and members of the Museum Commission for Acquisition of Museum Objects were detained, and unrelated to the event, unjustly accused in the process, too, for an acquisition of coins from a registered private collection. Ironically, today, these coins are exhibited in the newly opened Archaeological Museum in Skopje as precious rarities.
The reached verdicts are astonishingly high - eight years and eight months imprisonment for Mr. Pero Josifovski, six years and eight months for Mr. Zlatko Videski, and one to three years imprisonment for the three members of the Commission. These sentences are out of common sense and unknown to our judicial system.
Most of the stolen artifacts were found during the large scale systematic excavations at the site Isar, close to the village of Marvinci, at the south of the country. Zlatko Videski is the person who headed these particular excavations, documented the finds and presented them at many archaeological exhibitions. He is one of the best field archaeologists in our country and a man of honour, always working according to his best knowledge and professional and human merits.
The systemic problem of inadequate depots in our museums and the lack of elementary conditions for proper, secure storage of valuable artifacts are not and cannot be masked this way. The social responsibility cannot and must not have personal names only.
On behalf of the Macedonian Archaeological Society, please sign this petition and support so our plea for justice in the name of our colleagues and our profession. Your support is most welcome and precious in our attempt to defend the truth by raising the awareness among the public and the authorities.
We are loud in saying that archaeologists are not criminals and we encourage the police to discover the real robbers and retrieve the stolen cultural heritage.
Thank you for your support.
Macedonian Archaeological Society
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
April 3, 2015
Reached 100 supporters
April 1, 2015
165 Comments
I have studied, researched, surveyed, excavated, processed artefacts, analysed and reported on past cultures to preserve, understand and promote OUR links with humanity’s past. I am proud to be an archaeologist NOT a criminal.
The trade of smuggled and stolen artifacts on the black market is a problem for many countries. It is always worrying to see scape goats being used to hide the ineptitude of authorities in finding the real perpetrators.
Not only managers and the numismatists are to blame but Ministers and governments that do not provide adequate funding to protect cultural heritage.
Blaming the scientists for the poor security surrounding archaeological materials is a terrible miscarriage of justice. You've also now lost two experts whose lives have been dedicated to revealing the amazing history of Macedonia. How was this allowed to happen? Who wanted them to be scapegoats?
This is unbelievable! The problem of inadequate depots is actually the most frequent problem that museum curators can have among others. The directors and the curators cannot do anything but write letters to the State explaining the problem and hope that nothing of this kind will ever happen.
It seems implausible in the extreme that the archaeologists who discovered these objects and are devoted to their study should have been deliberately negligent in arranging for their safe-keeping.
seriously, be sane here
Dear colleagues,
Share Petition
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I have studied, researched, surveyed, excavated, processed artefacts, analysed and reported on past cultures to preserve, understand and promote OUR links with humanity’s past. I am proud to be an archaeologist NOT a criminal.