At a news briefing here on Sunday, Angel Georgiev of Vazrazhdane said that over 100 people were blocked for hours at the border with North Macedonia on Saturday. There was a queue for some five to six hours of cars headed to Skopje to pay tribute to revolutionary Gotse Delchev for his 151st birth anniversary, he said. In his words, he and two other Bulgarians were detained at the Deve Bair border control checkpoint, and the border officials hit them multiple times.
“This is aggression and infringement on human rights on the part of the authorities in North Macedonia,” Georgiev told the briefing. The three detainees were held cuffed for several hours, and then they were taken to the court in Kriva Palanka which imposed fines.
In his words, one of the charges is for verbal abuse which was actually committed by a fourth person. “We do not exclude the possibility of this having been staged on purpose,” he added. Another charge is for refusing to stop filming what was happening at the border checkpoint.
Georgiev said that no support was received from the Bulgarian authorities, and Vazrazhdane themselves found a lawyer. The court’s decision will be appealed, he stressed.
Vazrazhdane Deputy Chairman Petar Petrov described the legal process against the detainees as a farce. In his words, North Macedonia should not join the EU until it starts respecting the rights of Bulgarians on its territory.
Vazrazhdane intend to refer the matter to the European Court of Human Rights and initiate meetings with the European Commission President and with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement. According to the party, the Republic of North Macedonia is currently far away from the European values.
Vazrazhdane will also request a meeting with the caretaker Interior Minister, because the Bulgarian State should have a strong reaction to the behavior of North Macedonia’s politicians who, in Petrov’s words, speak anti-Bulgarian theses.
/DS/
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