The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted with deep concern that the custody hearing held at the first-instance court in the Republic of Macedonia against the Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova was not transparent. It took place in a strongly negative public atmosphere involving also acts of physical violence, prolonged detention of Mrs. Mitrova who was not allowed to see her child.

The following topics were addressed at today’s first briefing of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

There are no Bulgarian citizens among the casualties of the earthquake that shook the region of Elazig in Eastern Turkey at 4:32 a.m. today. This is for the time being the information received by telephone from the Bulgarian Embassy in Ankara, which contacted the Crisis Management Centre in the region.

Bulgarian nationals will not be obliged to ask for new identity documents to be issued to them prior to the expiry of the validity of the old ones – this became clear at the press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.