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Sat, Feb 11 2012
Spaska Mitrova loses custody of her child
Spaska Mitrova, left, and former Bulgarian foreign minister Roumyana Zheleva in Bulgaria in October 2009.
Photo: Assen Tonev
A court in the Macedonian town of Gevgeli has awarded custody of the three-year-old daughter of Macedonian-born, Bulgarian passport-holder Spaska Mitrova, whose imprisonment caused a diplomatic row between Sofia and Skopje, to her ex-husband Voislav Savic, the Bulgarian news agency (BTA) said on March 11 2010.
The court session lasted for several minutes and was closed to the media. The court did not allow a Bulgarian embassy representative to attend despite a Bulgarian Foreign Ministry request.
Judges only read their ruling and did not present reasons. Besides losing the custody of her daughter Susana to her ex-husband, Mitrova was sentenced to pay 40 euro in monthly support to his family.
Leaving the court room, Mitrova said that she intended to appeal against the sentence within 15 days.
Following the decision, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it said that it was deeply concerned about the lack of transparency of the trial against "Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova".
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's statement continued that the court case had been conducted in a highly undesirable atmosphere that included physical force against Mitrova, her detention and her separation from her child.
"We don’t accept that a Bulgarian embassy official should not be allowed in the court room given the extremely high public interest in the case in both countries," the statement also said.
The Ministry said it hoped that the next court decision would be in accordance with European principles of transparency and objectivity. In this regard the statement also referred to recommendations and conditions stipulated in the annual European Commission’s Macedonia progress report.
"Bulgaria will continue to monitor the case carefully and treat it as a yardstick of progress in Macedonian judicial reform which is a key element of the Copenhagen criteria, the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union," the statement also said.
Following the Gevgeli court decision, the Bulgarian opposition centre-right Order, Law and Justice party called upon the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to use all diplomatic means to protest against Macedonian authorities and demand that they distance themselves from the court ruling.
According to the party, the court has ruled against Mitrova based on purely political and anti-Bulgarian reasons.
The 2008 imprisonment of Mitrova caused a diplomatic row between Sofia and Skopje. She was sentenced to three months in prison because she had refused to allow her former husband to see their child.
At the time, Bulgarian officials, including the Minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, accused Macedonian authorities of excessive use of force against her because she had applied for a Bulgarian passport.
Mitrova was sentenced in July 2008, but imprisonment was delayed while she appealed against the sentence. She failed to turn up at the prison to see out her sentence and was arrested on July 30. In the meantime, she had applied for Bulgarian citizenship.
She was released from prison on October 8 2009 and was warmly welcomed by Bulgarian institutions and state officials, with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov saying he could not understand how any judicial system could send a mother with a newborn baby to jail.
The court session lasted for several minutes and was closed to the media. The court did not allow a Bulgarian embassy representative to attend despite a Bulgarian Foreign Ministry request.
Judges only read their ruling and did not present reasons. Besides losing the custody of her daughter Susana to her ex-husband, Mitrova was sentenced to pay 40 euro in monthly support to his family.
Leaving the court room, Mitrova said that she intended to appeal against the sentence within 15 days.
Following the decision, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it said that it was deeply concerned about the lack of transparency of the trial against "Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova".
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's statement continued that the court case had been conducted in a highly undesirable atmosphere that included physical force against Mitrova, her detention and her separation from her child.
"We don’t accept that a Bulgarian embassy official should not be allowed in the court room given the extremely high public interest in the case in both countries," the statement also said.
The Ministry said it hoped that the next court decision would be in accordance with European principles of transparency and objectivity. In this regard the statement also referred to recommendations and conditions stipulated in the annual European Commission’s Macedonia progress report.
"Bulgaria will continue to monitor the case carefully and treat it as a yardstick of progress in Macedonian judicial reform which is a key element of the Copenhagen criteria, the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union," the statement also said.
Following the Gevgeli court decision, the Bulgarian opposition centre-right Order, Law and Justice party called upon the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to use all diplomatic means to protest against Macedonian authorities and demand that they distance themselves from the court ruling.
According to the party, the court has ruled against Mitrova based on purely political and anti-Bulgarian reasons.
The 2008 imprisonment of Mitrova caused a diplomatic row between Sofia and Skopje. She was sentenced to three months in prison because she had refused to allow her former husband to see their child.
At the time, Bulgarian officials, including the Minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, accused Macedonian authorities of excessive use of force against her because she had applied for a Bulgarian passport.
Mitrova was sentenced in July 2008, but imprisonment was delayed while she appealed against the sentence. She failed to turn up at the prison to see out her sentence and was arrested on July 30. In the meantime, she had applied for Bulgarian citizenship.
She was released from prison on October 8 2009 and was warmly welcomed by Bulgarian institutions and state officials, with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov saying he could not understand how any judicial system could send a mother with a newborn baby to jail.
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My Bulgaria: The battle for Spaska
Prime Minister Boiko Borissov won one of his first victories abroad after Spaska Mitrova was released from a Macedonian court on October 8.
Spaska Mitrova was not Bulgarian when I married her, ex-husband says
Voislav Savic speaks out in his first ever interview with Bulgarian media on the Spaska Mitrova case, which caused diplomatic row between Bulgaria and Macedonia
Macedonians made fun of Bulgaria, PM Borissov says of Mitrova's release
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Owner of Bulgarian news agency comments on Mitrova case
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The case of a 23 year old woman, sentenced to three months in jail, is threatening to become a roadblock to Macedonian EU accession, at least if the new Bulgarian Government gets its way.
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This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained off-topic content
Nikola I don't know her history but one thing I am sure of is that this is all so very politicized.
She was found guilty of contempt of court which is a criminal offense and she should go to prison for it.
This is all about her denying her child the right to have access to her father. In my opinion this is child abuse and that should be added to her list of charges as well.
Nobody has the right to deny the child access to BOTH parents. Naturally, if one [...]
Read the full comment parent is dangerous to the child or in some way bad for that child then yes, that child should be protected from him/her but in Spaska's case I don't see anything wrong with the father.
Bottom line, she broke the law and I don't care what nationality she says she is, she should pay the price.
The child the rights and no voice. Someone has to stand up to bad parents like her and protect the rights of the child.
This has nothing to do with who she says she is. She is using that as some leverage over Macedonian court and Bulgaria is aiding her. Bulgaria should not defend a criminal no matter what nationality.
in Bulgaria roma people and turks that want to aquire bulgarian citizenship have to get their names changed, so please enough with your "perfect" democracy and human rights bull@it.
Spaska is a drug addict and mentally challenged person that would do anything for money which unfortunatelly the bulgarian goverment is willing to pay just to prove the existance of the unexistant bulgarian minority in Macedonia and denying the macedonian existance as a nation.
They need such cases to put a veto on us(Macedonia) when we will be ready to enter Europe and since they dont have [...]
Read the full comment them they are willing to pay good money to create them.
At the end she is a macedonian that fights the macedonian state and her countrymen which explains everything about her morals and loyalty....good luck with her i think she now is in a country that is more suitable to her personality...