site.btaSerbian Ambassador Summoned by Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Over Case with Edvin Sugarev

Serbian Ambassador to Bulgaria Zeljko Jovic was summoned to the Foreign Ministry by the head of the European Affairs General Directorate, Yordan Parvanov, on Thursday, the Ministry said. The reasoning was the Serbian border authorities’ refusal to allow writer and former consul of Bulgaria in Nis Edvin Sugarev to enter Serbia on November 8 and the confiscation of his books from the Bulgarian Cultural and Information Centre (CIC) in Bosilegrad by the local authorities.

The Bulgarian side has expressed strong protest and deep concern over the hostile actions of the Serbian authorities towards the Bulgarian intellectual. “The accusations against the Bulgarian public figure and his work are absurd. His works can in no way be linked to ‘incitement of inter-ethnic intolerance’,” the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said. Accusations have also been leveled at the CIC, which is legally registered in Bosilegrad, and its employees. “These unprovoked and unjustified actions have no place in contemporary Bulgarian-Serbian relations, which we want to build together,“ the Ministry added. The Serbian Ambassador has been asked for an explanation and apology.

Parvanov said that he expects to urgently receive a copy of the court ruling on the actions taken by the Serbian police in Bosilegrad and Sugarev’s ban on entering Serbia. He also expressed surprise and disappointment that the above-mentioned actions of the Serbian judicial and law enforcement authorities, undermining the dignity of Sugarev and the CIC employees, were carried out on the day when the European Commission announced its annual Enlargement Package. Parvanov stressed that the observance of human rights and ensuring freedom of expression, in particular, are key conditions in the process of European integration, the Foreign Ministry said.

On Wednesday, a presentation of Sugarev’s book titled Elegy for the Kraishte. The Fate of Bulgarians in the Western Balkans was planned as part of a commemorative evening for the Day of the Western Outlands, but the event was thwarted by the police.