Members of the North Macedonian Army must be clean-shaven, the provision prohibiting them from wearing beards remains in force. But they can wear mustaches.
The Constitutional Court today has not initiated a procedure for assessing the constitutionality and legality of paragraph 7 of the Rule on Relations in the Performance of Service of the Macedonian Army, approved in July 2012 by the Chief of General Staff.
The contested paragraph states that military personnel serving in the Army must always be well dressed, clean-shaven, and with their hair cut short.
“The curls are cut moderately, to the middle of the ear and the hair should not fall over the ears and the collar of the dress, that is, it should not reach above the brim of the hat or beret. He should not wear a beard and if he wears a mustache it should be 0,8 centimeters long from the upper lip and should not extend beyond it. The hair should not be longer than 5 centimeters,” the contested provision states.
The initiative for assessing the constitutionality of this paragraph is the Association for Youth Development for Public Interest from Debar.
“The applicants state that the issue of wearing a beard is legally permissible under the Constitution and the European Convention and such a provision constitutes an interference with the right to private life. It is said that it is absurd that there is no ban on wearing a mustache, while there is an absolute ban on wearing a beard,” the Constitutional Court announced. /Telegraph/