Iva M. case: North Macedonia issues international arrest warrant, presses Sofia

North Macedonia on Tuesday evening issued an international arrest warrant for Iva M., a 23-year-old Bulgarian and North Macedonian dual national. The Basic Court in Kocani ordered 30 days of detention and signed an international search order, according to Bulgarian news agency BTA and broadcaster BNT. The Interior Ministry in Skopje said it will process the warrant through international police cooperation channels.

The young woman faces proceedings in Kocani over a traffic accident in early October 2025 that killed one person and injured several others, including her. Her passports were seized and she was barred from leaving the town; the court refused to return her documents, a decision upheld by the appeals court in Stip. A hospital in Skopje had found that she needs treatment not available in North Macedonia but available in Bulgaria, among other countries. Since Monday it has been known that she is in Bulgaria. Her Bulgarian lawyer says she crossed at a border checkpoint; Skopje says her exit was never registered.

Interior Minister Pance Toshkovski told Sitel TV that she left the country illegally. He said he hoped Bulgaria would dare to respect international rules and the European Convention on Human Rights and should show it through actions, not declarations. According to the newspaper Sega, North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry handed Bulgarian Ambassador Zhelyazko Radukov a note calling her high-level reception in Sofia a provocation.