Johan Tarčulovski

Johan Tarčulovski (born November 17, 1974) is a Macedonian convicted war criminal, former police commander, and politician. Tarčulovski was convicted for murder, wanton destruction and cruel treatment in Ljuboten during the 2001 conflict by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He is the only Macedonian who was convicted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal. Among his political roles, he was a security inspector for Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski and served as a member of parliament.

Life Tarčulovski was born in the village Ljubanci near Skopje in Butel Municipality on November 17, 1974. He and his wife, Sonja (née Veličkova), a Macedonian folk singer, have three children. He served as an inspector in the Security Service of Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski. Tarčulovski was indicted, along with Ljube Boškoski, on March 15, 2005. After the indictment, there was little public reaction in Macedonia. Macedonian authorities arrested him and extradited him to The Hague on March 16, 2005.

He was brought before the international court in The Hague. Tarčulovski pled not guilty on April 18, 2005. On July 10, 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison (including time spent in custody), as the trial chamber found him guilty of "ordering, planning and instigating the murder of three ethnic Albanian civilians in the village of Ljuboten, the wanton destruction of 12 houses or other property and the cruel treatment of 13 ethnic Albanian civilians". However, the chamber also found that Tarčulovski was also acting under a superior's orders during the operation. The presiding judge stated: "The evidence does not enable the person or persons responsible for the orders to Johan Tarculovski to be identified. The circumstances confirm it was a person or persons superior to him." The chamber also did not find him as responsible for four other deaths.

He appealed against his sentence. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia upheld his conviction and 12-year prison sentence. The Appeals Chamber rejected his appeal on May 19, 2010. On July 7, 2011, he was transferred to a prison in Germany. In this 2013 application for early release, German authorities sent a psychological report, where it was mentioned that he lacked remorse for his offenses and saw others as being responsible for him. After completing two-thirds of his sentence, he became eligible for early release in March. Locals in his birth village celebrated the news about his early release.

The Macedonian government had spent on lawyers and lobbying, court expenses and welcome-home parties for him and Boškoski. His wife had received each month for eight years from the VMRO DPMNE-led government while he was imprisoned. The ultras group Komiti had supported him, as he was its leader. He was welcomed as a hero in Skopje by the Macedonian government, his family, leaders of VMRO-DPMNE and thousands of supporters, who saw him as a patriot. President Gjorge Ivanov and prime minister Nikola Gruevski welcomed him in their offices, perceiving him as a defender, regardless of the crimes he was imprisoned for. Regarding his welcome, academic Biljana Vankovska stated: "In the context of the reconciliation process, this shows how far we are from it, that we have not even started it. Because if the majority of Macedonians perceive him as a hero, someone who was found by a court process to be responsible for the murder of civilians, and citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, let's not forget. That means we have learned very little from those lessons."

He later graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at Goce Delčev University of Štip in agricultural engineering. Tarčulovski also became the owner of a company called "Mel-Kom trans Dooel", managed by his wife. Thus, he ended up earning millions of euros from the company. VMRO-DPMNE nominated him as a candidate in the parliamentary elections on December 11, 2016. A local political analyst said that his candidacy was an attempt by VMRO-DPMNE to win votes by exploiting patriotic sentiments. The Ministry of Interior identified him as one of the five VMRO-DPMNE members who opened the doors to allow attackers to storm the parliament on April 27, 2017. He was later amnestied for this event. Tarčulovski was also a mayoral candidate for the Kisela Voda Municipality in the 2017 elections. His membership in the parliament ended in 2020. He has served as an advisor of the director of the Customs Administration.