MEP from Bulgaria accuses Macedonian police of torturing Bulgarians

MEP from Bulgaria, Angel Dzambaski, sent a letter to the European Commission regarding the interrogations of Bulgarian citizens from the security services of the Republic of Macedonia.
Namely, according to Dzambaski, on 25th of November 2014, President of the Bulgarian Cultural Club in Skopje reacted due to violation of the rights of the citizens in Strumica and Kochani done by the police in Macedonia.
Asked for comment on this issue, representatives of the Macedonian Ministry of Interior said for news agency META that they “work in accordance with legal regulations and behave equally to all citizens.”
As Dzambaski stated, reports Bulgarian online network “Kros”, they were interrogated about the activities of the Bulgarian Cultural Club and their links with Bulgarian MEPs.
This action of the Macedonian police can reflect on the course of this year’s negotiations between the Joint Parliamentary Committee of EU and Macedonia, which is held in Strasbourg yesterday and today. MEP Dzambaski, member of the Bulgarian VMRO, is also a part of this delegation.
During the negotiations, the MEP asked for a serious criticism to be directed towards the delegation from Skopje regarding this issue as well.
President of the Bulgarian club in Skopje, Lazar Mladenov, claims that its activists were invited to so-called “friendly conversation” by the security services. People were mainly interrogated about who enters their offices in Strumica and whether they intend to open other offices as well. The first “conversation” took place in Strumica, in the offices of the security services, while, in Kochani, one person was called to a restaurant in order for it to appear that it is matter of an informal meeting.
The Macedonian delegation is comprised of President of the Committee Kenan Hasipi and its members are MPs Artan Grubi, Antonio Miloshoski, Silvana Boneva, Vladimir Gjorchev and Bekim Fazli.