Sat, Feb 11 2012

Macedonia releases Bulgarian national

Thu, Oct 08 2009 12:02 CET 1816 Views 6 Comments
Macedonia releases Bulgarian national

Photo: Assen Tonev

Spaska Mitrova, whose imprisonment caused a diplomatic row between Sofia and Skopje, was released from prison on October 8. The 23-year-old Macedonian citizen with a Bulgarian passport was sentenced to three months in prison because she had refused to allow her Macedonian husband to see their child.

Mitrova was in the Bulgarian embassy in Skopje, chargés d’affaires Angel Angelov told Bulgarian news agency BTA.

Mitrova's case prompted Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry to sent a verbal note to the chargé d’affaires of the Macedonian embassy in Sofia, saying it had evidence of systematic suppression of Macedonians who self-identified as Bulgarian and that it was determined to defend and support Bulgarians abroad.

Bulgaria threatened to veto Macedonian European Union and Nato accession over the case.

Mitrova was sentenced in July 2008, but imprisonment was delayed while she appealed the sentence. She failed to turn up at the prison to see out her sentence and was arrested on July 30.

At the time, Bulgarian officials, including minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, accused Macedonian authorities of excessive use of force.

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Comments

Anonymous periclis greece Thu, Nov 12 2009 16:20 CET

too all fyromanian,what means macedonia you now;;;;;;;;you are slavs and you now this better then me.the slavs come on this area latter,the macedonian it wass olrady here.giro gligorof says on greece press, 30 days ago,we are not macedonian we dont have nothing close with alexandros,we are slavs.macedonian speak greec, have greec name,greec culture is so simple.propagant is not history.you have bulgarin-serbian dialect,macedonian speak greec,be sirius,stop lies stop steal.only in your dream you be macedonia.

Anonymous Dana Fri, Oct 09 2009 12:24 CET

This poor woman went through hell and on top of it all was separated from her small child. We Macedonian women are a strong breed but this attitude lately from our government to implement such treatment because of her Bulgarian passport is unforgivable. Here in Gevgelija 67% of our towns women all have Bulgarian passports but that doesn't mean we have disowned our Macedonian idenity. These idiots who convicted her need jailing themselves. As a mother of 4 children if any man would even attempt to separate us he would leave his kast breath in the street. My family despise [...]

Read the full comment this treament of women in Macedonia and especially the male chauvinism that still exists here is disastrous. If other countries would see how our men treat women they would think we are the most primitive people in Europe. Maybe our men are. Time has come to respect your women and this rubbish about pasports is ridiculous. Most people in Gevgelija are anyway Bulgarian origins so what is the problem. A good Macedonian knows where they come from and its not from the north, south, or west. Women should run this country not the imbeciles like Gruevski and his bunch of monkeys (esp. his FM Antonio Mil.) who are to busy building statues of themselves. Yes thats right they think that the statues represent themselves these big ego.s they have. I'm sure Gruevski is a 2 min. noodle like most boxers.

Anonymous Nikola Fri, Oct 09 2009 11:39 CET

Come on guys, I know our country made a mistake but all this veto stuff isn't worth it. Many of us here were totally against what our government done but we were helpless to do anything. Macedonia is home to many peoples but it is our Bulgarian heritage that many of us respect. Yes we are Macedonians but our Bulgarian background can never be questioned. A long time ago a person on this site calling himself Robert the Hero questioned my logic as he was also a Macedonian living in America. When I told him that you can compare Macedonia [...]

Read the full comment to America where he lives that just as he is an American of Macedonian background so are many of the Narod here Macedonians of a Bulgarian background. He abused me and the site for weeks claiming that we Macedonians come from the seeds of Aleksander Veliki. Thankfully dozens of Macedonians (especially the youth) voiced their outrage at this hypocrite from the diaspora trying to rewrite our glorious history written by the likes of Gruev, Delchev, Miladinovs. There are those among us who believe in the propaganda emanating from the diaspora but the majority of the young have in the last two years in particular questioned our governments view of our history. It seems that the confusion began when our government decided to include ancient narratives which unbeknown to them were opposite to the writings of our famous early 20th century leaders mentioned earlier. They overlooked one important fact. Not one of our leaders Delchev, Gruev, etc., ever claimed any connection to Aleksander Veliki but rather our proud Bulgarian heritage which funny enough our government refuses. When our former leader L. Georgievski openly declared whilst in power that we cannot divorce ourselves from our Bulgarian roots, he caused a stir but not a storm. Many Macedonians understood what he said and accept it. Only the hardline conservatives condemned it and only for a few weeks. Today our former leader has moved to Bulgaria where he is active with our Macedonian Brethren there looking into our Bulgarian roots. Even our chief archaeologist Pasko Kuzman admits our Bulgarian background cannot be so easily erased as Gruevski's government with the help of the diaspora are attempting to do. To our proud Bulgarian Leaders Gotse Delchev and co. who said we are all Macedonians , Greeks Bulgarians, Turks, Vlachs, etc., we honour you. Here in Prilep many of our people are all open about their Bulgarian ancestry, so as you can see we feel for the poor woman. As Macedonians we are proud of our Bulgarian roots.

Anonymous jay Fri, Oct 09 2009 04:48 CET

This comment has been hidden by the moderator because it contained квалификации.

Anonymous Jameson Thu, Oct 08 2009 12:42 CET

Should not have threatened should have done years ago.

Bulgaria still has chances to veto FYROM after all it will take that horrible little third world country FYROM 15-20 years to join the EU. I say Bulgaria vetoes now

Anonymous Jameson Thu, Oct 08 2009 12:40 CET

Come on Bulgaria you know what to do when that little extremely poor country FYROM tries to join the EU, a VETO!


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