English
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that Macedonia will use available mechanisms to protect Macedonian citizens, after lawyer Toni Menkinoski was given a 10 year ban from entering Bulgaria. Menkinoski says that the draconian ban was handed to him because he is assisting ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria in their legal battles to register cultural organizations.
If this is true, it’s another point of shame for the democracy of our eastern neighbor. I would truly feel ashamed if I were sitting at the same table and had to share the values of our eastern neighbor – I’m talking here about the other EU member states, who should react, if this is confirmed as true, Mickoski said as the news broke.
Menkinoski held a press conference in which he said that he represents Macedonian organizations before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has made a dozen verdicts finding that Bulgaria is violating the human and political rights of the ethnic Macedonians living there.
Bulgaria must implement all 14 verdicts and recognize the right of the Macedonians to set up their own clubs, a political party and have self-determination. What they are doing to me is an expression of powerlessness. They want to display force at the lawyer who represents these people at the ECHR, Menkinoski said.