Woman Freed Amid Bulgarian Jubilation

The case of a dual Macedonian-Bulgarian woman, who was on Friday released 21 days early from a three-month prison sentence in Skopje’s Idrizovo prision has sparked an uproar in Bulgaria

Spaska Mitrova, a 23-year old resident from the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelia, received her sentence after she allegedly repeatedly refused to allow her ex-husband access to their child.

Mitrova was sentenced in July 2008, but her imprisonment was delayed while she appealed against the sentence. She failed to turn up at the prison to serve her sentence and was arrested on July 30.

Since the news of her arrest, Bulgaria has been calling for her release, citing Mitrova's newborn baby and her deteriorating health.

Her case prompted Bulgaria’s foreign ministry to send a note to the Macedonian embassy in Sofia, saying it had evidence of systematic suppression of Macedonians who ‘self-identified’ as Bulgarian and that it was determined to defend and support Bulgarians abroad, media reported.

Bulgaria had also threatened to veto Macedonia’s EU and NATO’s accession over the case.

On Friday, Bulgaria’s prime minister and welcomed Mitrova's release. Boiko Borisov expressed his satisfaction but said that he could not understand a judicial system which had decided to send a mother with a newborn baby to jail, the sofia.net service reported.

Media add that Borisov will meet Mitrova in the Bulgarian town of Sandanski.

President Georgi Purvanov and the foreign ministry in Sofia said that they were satisfied with the news but disappointed that it had come too late.

The minister for Bulgarians living abroad Bozhidar Dimitrov said Borisov had used “silent diplomacy”, and had had several private conversations with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski over the case

“Spaska Mitrova is not the first and will not be the last case of a Bulgarian persecuted because of their national identity,” Dimitrov said. He then offered her a job in his team, saying that Mitrova speaks English, but acknowledging that she is unlikely to take up the offer.