Macedonia: Man gets 4 years for April assault in parliament

SKOPJE, Macedonia – A court in Macedonia has sentenced a 65-year-old man to four years in prison for physically attacking a politician when pro-conservative protesters stormed into the country’s parliament.

The court on Thursday convicted Pance Angelov of assaulting Radmila Secerinska, who is now Macedonia’s acting defence minister.

Secerinska was pulled by the hair during the incident, which was videotaped and widely shown on television.

The parliament rampage left 100 people injured, including 10 lawmakers. It occurred during a post-election political crisis in Macedonia that boiled over with the election of a new parliament speaker.

Angelov, who had faced a maximum prison term of 10 years, apologized to the court for the incident.