The chairman of the Bulgarian club in Bitola (North Macedonia) accused of racism

The Prosecutor's Office in the Republic of North Macedonia pressed charges of racism and xenophobia against Lyupcho Georgievski, the chairman of the Bulgarian cultural club in Bitola "Ivan Mihailov”. Georgievski is required to appear at the Prosecutor's office in Bitola on December 16 at 12:00 local time, otherwise he will be taken there by force.

Gun shots fired at Bulgarian club in North Macedonia

The club opened in April and has been subject to attacks and institutional pressure from the authorities in Skopje since its opening.

Weeks after the opening of the club, singer Lambe Alabakovski attempted to set the building on fire. Alabakovski was detained and subsequently released.

Months later, after the adoption of changes to the Law on Associations and Foundations and the Law on Parties directed against Bulgarian clubs, it became clear that the management of all Bulgarian clubs must change their statutes, programme, names and filter their Facebook content. Otherwise they will be closed.

The Macedonian Bulgarians requested a meeting with the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Várhelyi, who undertook to meet with them.