The police statement laid out what happens next:
With the parents’ consent, and in order to carry out the procedure and photograph the evidence, the mobile phone from which the video was posted has been secured, and the three minors he identified will be called in to the police station for a complete investigation. Once the case is fully documented, an appropriate submission will be filed with the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tetovo.
That is how the case is expected to move forward from here.
Because all the minors involved are under 14, North Macedonian law does not subject them to standard criminal liability, so the case will most likely be resolved through educational supervision measures and the involvement of the Center for Social Work, while the three boys named by the main suspect still need to be questioned to determine their role in the incident. Police have not yet said whether the other minors were present at the scene when the flag was burned or only watched and shared the video afterward.
No officials in Skopje have publicly reacted to the incident so far. It comes at a time when Macedonian authorities are generally focused on maintaining stability in interethnic relations, while Belgrade is closely watching every signal from its neighbor, which, like Serbia, is part of the broader Western Balkan EU integration process.