Panche Toshkovski: Homicides down 37% in January–August, attempted murders down 65%

Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said on 16 September 2026 that crime statistics for the first eight months of the year show a marked drop in serious violent and property offences compared with the same period in 2025. He gave the figures during an appearance on the central "Dnevnik" programme of Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT).

Toshkovski said the investigation into the murder in the Čair municipality is ongoing and that he expects suspects will soon be deprived of their liberty. He declined to provide further details at this stage.

Falling homicide and attempted-homicide figures

According to the numbers presented by the minister, reported homicides fell from 19 to 12 between January and August, a reduction of almost 37 percent. Registered perpetrators fell from 26 to 13, while the number of victims decreased from 20 to 12 — roughly a 40 percent drop.

Toshkovski told reporters that attempts to murder have fallen by about 65 percent. Robberies are down by roughly 40 percent and serious thefts by almost 30 percent compared with the same January–August period in 2025.

Asked whether citizens are safe, he said the answer should be based on concrete indicators rather than isolated cases. "The question whether Macedonian citizens are safe is legitimate. I can freely say — yes, but it remains a complex issue. We cannot interpret this outside what should be numbers, statistics and reality," Toshkovski said.

The minister also warned that some categories of crime have risen. He pointed to domestic violence, where higher reporting — he said — likely reflects greater willingness by victims to report incidents, and to reckless driving: nearly 2,200 offences of reckless driving were recorded in the first eight months, about seven times more than in the same period last year.

Toshkovski attributed much of the rise in detected traffic offences to recent amendments to the Criminal Code and to the operation of the Safe City system, which he said improved detection. "We have 'Safe City', which helps us a great deal in detecting these crimes and because of that we have a drastic increase in the number of offences, seven times more than the same period last year," he said.

He added that evaluations of crime trends must take into account legal changes and improvements in detection and registration practices when interpreting year-on-year comparisons.

Photo: press material from the event