Iva M. case: Border police find no record of her crossing into Bulgaria
Border police chief Anton Zlatanov says no violation occurred at the crossings to North Macedonia. Sofia has replied to Skopje – the dispute is straining relations.
Symbolic image · Photo: Bin im Garten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
In the dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia over the woman who has been charged after a fatal accident in North Macedonia and is receiving treatment in Sofia, the Bulgarian border police have issued a new statement. Its director, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, told broadcaster NOVA there is no data on the woman crossing at the Bulgarian-Macedonian border checkpoints. There had been “no violation whatsoever” at the Bulgarian checkpoints, he said. The interior minister has ordered a review.
Bulgaria has since replied to Skopje that there is no entry in the border control system. Zlatanov left open whether the woman entered via an official crossing; the question is being handled “at a much higher level,” he said. The woman holds Bulgarian and North Macedonian citizenship. In North Macedonia, she was not allowed to leave Kochani, and her travel documents had been confiscated. She had told bTV she crossed the border with her lawyer. No guilt has been established by a final ruling.
North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in an interview with broadcaster TV 21, according to BNT, that Bulgaria is becoming a refuge for criminals convicted in his country, and announced he would raise the case with NATO and the EU. Skopje has requested her arrest and extradition through Interpol. The woman was admitted for treatment to Sofia’s Pirogov emergency hospital on Oct. 12.