A nine-member Constitutional Court decides if laws conform with the constitution. In March, the Court ruled that the police would no longer be able to detain suspects without first taking them before an executive judge, though police often ignore the ruling as well as proper search warrant procedures. National minorities, particularly Albanians, have complained about abuses at the hands of police and discrimination. Rufi Osmani, the former mayor of Gostivar, is serving a seven-year sentence for his part in the 1997 ethnic violence. Ethnic Serbs maintain that they cannot worship freely in the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Freedom of movement is unimpaired by government regulation.
The constitution and laws enshrine property rights. In February 1998, a citizens' group in Krivolak, whose property was taken away under the denationalization law, threatened to seek redress with the World Bank and international courts. An unreliable legal framework exacerbates bureaucratic delays, which are common in registering a business. While commercial laws are meant to enshrine fair competition, the development of the private sector and privatization has been characterized by the advantageous position of enterprise managers with links to the government and political parties. Smuggling, drug dealing, and a large gray economy remain serious problems.