"Compared with last year, when we had 1,500 open complaints to the ombudsman, so far this year we have received 2,200 complaints, which means that the citizens' complaints to the ombudsman have increased by 40 percent," Ombudsman Ixhet Memeti said in the interview for Radio Free Europe. "Citizens complain most of the judiciary, followed by the police, property ownership issues, implementation of the Denationalization Law, and so forth." Memeti says that the ombudsman as an institution has good cooperation with the Interior Ministry when it comes to exchange of information and assistance in investigations, but that the Interior Ministry's cooperation as regards complaints about the police exercising force is worrying.

The ombudsman's data shows that most citizens who complain of police brutality belong to the Macedonian ethnic community.