The Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristian Mickoski said today that he expects Bulgaria to extradite Simeon Mihaylov, who is wanted by North Macedonia to serve a sentence, reported "Sloboden Pechat".
"We are looking for this person and I expect our partners to act in accordance with the partnership. We are partners with our eastern neighbor (Bulgaria) within NATO. We expect the people who are wanted, who have committed a crime, to be extradited in the spirit of partnership, in order to be brought before the law and justice", stressed Mickoski today.
Simeon Mihaylov has been sentenced in the final instance in North Macedonia to a sentence of 12 years and six months in prison for attempted murder and criminal association. The case is known in the public sphere in North Macedonia as the "Detonator" case. Mihaylov was convicted of attempting to murder Datso Belski - bodyguard of the former director of the Security and Counterintelligence Directorate of North Macedonia, Sasho Mijalkov. It is alleged that two assassination attempts were made by placing a bomb in a garbage container, and in the second one Belski was injured and taken to hospital, recalls "Sloboden Pechat".
It became clear that Mihaylov is in Bulgaria after he appeared in public several times - on Bulgarian television and at a protest in front of the Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia in Sofia in defense of his daughter - Iva Mihaylova. She is accused of a serious crime related to road safety in North Macedonia and is currently being tried in the court in Kochani. Both have Bulgarian and North Macedonian citizenship.
The case of Iva Mihaylova became famous after her documents were taken away after an accident in which a person died, which does not allow her to receive treatment in Bulgaria – one of the countries where this is possible due to the specifics of her spinal injuries.
The extradition procedure for Simeon Mihaylov requires that he first be arrested by the country in which he is located and then extradited to the country that issued the request, explains "Sloboden Pechat". According to local lawyers, however, Mihaylov cannot be extradited from a country whose citizenship he holds.