The case concerning Iva Mihaylova’s treatment is highly likely to reach the court in Strasbourg. A complaint is being prepared under Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private life and health. This would be the only way, through European institutions, for the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia to be required to return Iva Mihaylova’s passport and allow her to travel.
The latest hearing in the case against Iva Mihaylova took place yesterday in Kočani. BNT was the first to raise the issue of the girl from North Macedonia who is unable to receive treatment in Bulgaria because of proceedings related to a road accident in which she was involved.
Bulgarian MPs from various parties gathered in support of her. Before the hearing, Iva’s relatives held a symbolic protest outside the courthouse. A demonstration was also held in Sofia outside the Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Iva Mihaylova’s defence team will insist that her medical treatment case be referred to Strasbourg, arguing before the European institutions and the European Court of Human Rights that Iva Mihaylova is a defendant because she is facing charges for a crime of negligence, not for a serious intentional crime. She also has no previous criminal record, so it is possible that even before the criminal case against Iva in Kočani concludes, the European Court of Human Rights may issue a ruling regarding Iva Mihaylova’s right to adequate medical treatment.
The Republic of North Macedonia does not use the method by which she needs to be treated – this is the conclusion of a number of medical experts from North Macedonia. One of the reports states that the method that Iva Mihaylova should receive is used in Bulgaria, Turkey and Israel.
Yesterday, August 31, at the very end of the proceedings, after the hearing had concluded and outside the official record, Iva Mihaylova addressed the court and asked the judge what other documents she needed to submit in order to be allowed to receive treatment in Bulgaria, given that on the previous occasion she had been asked to provide the opinion of a medical panel. She submitted such an opinion from a panel of doctors at the State Hospital “Mother Teresa” – a university hospital where four doctors and the hospital director state that Iva Mihaylova cannot be treated in the Republic of North Macedonia.
The judge did not answer the question. The prosecutor responded, saying that as the situation was not life-threatening, permission would not be granted.
It was not clear in what capacity the prosecutor was speaking on behalf of the court, or whether this was in any way an indication of the state of the judicial system in the Republic of North Macedonia, which has been strongly criticised in the annual European reports on North Macedonia’s progress towards European Union membership. The question remains particularly pressing because, even after the questioning of the final witness in the case, it emerged that of the 14 witnesses, 13 did not see how the accident occured. The only witness who did, David Krastov, says that Iva did not leave her lane and that the car was hit in her lane of traffic.
Iva Mihaylova’s lawyer: “My colleague and I are satisfied with today’s main hearing. We managed to get the expert to confirm his finding that the defendant, Iva, exceeded the speed limit, because we insisted throughout that this was the permitted speed on that motorway, that express road, and he accepted this, which is very significant for us, given that the indictment presents this as one of the main reasons allegedly leading to the accident.”
Iva Mihaylova: “I asked them what document and what I needed to do, what I needed to provide, so that they would allow me to receive treatment in Bulgaria, because the only thing they asked me for was an opinion from a medical panel at the State Hospital in Skopje, Mother Teresa, which would allow me to go. I provided it to them, and they refused. For the eighth time, even on appeal. The prosecutor’s response now was that if the situation is not life-threatening, they will not allow me to receive treatment in Bulgaria under any circumstances.”
It was precisely these omissions in the expert report submitted by the expert appointed by the prosecution, including, for example, the failure to measure the weight of the vehicles, that led Iva Mihaylova’s lawyers to request that the case and the questioning of this expert be held at the next hearing, so that they could prepare thoroughly.
The case against Iva Mihaylova will continue on 28 September, when the expert who claims that Iva entered the oncoming lane will be questioned, although there is currently no such objective evidence in the case.
However, the reports of two other experts will also be heard. They claim precisely the opposite – that Iva Mihaylova’s vehicle did not leave its lane and that the other vehicle entered her lane and collided with her.
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