Foreign Ministry Expresses Concern over Roso Case

North Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over Serbia’s decision to expel and issue a one-year-ban on entry against Iskra Roso, a citizen of North Macedonia who’s the Executive Director of SOLEM, an association for supporting persons with disabilities.

According to the Serbian authorities, she posed a security threat.

Timco Mucunski’s Ministry said on Friday it would ask for clarification from authorities in Belgrade over the justification of the measures and whether they were in accordance with European and international human rights standards.

The stay of Roso in the country was regulated, the institution stressed, adding that it hoped the case would be solved appropriately, through dialogue and good faith on both sides. The SOLEM Executive Director was in Serbia for an ERSTE Foundation event.

12 other foreign citizens who were part of the same event were expelled as well. Roso said Friday that two days prior, police officers dressed as civilians had come to establish their identities for unknown reasons.

“We had gone out. When we returned to the hotel lobby, shortly after midgut, officers dressed as civilians asked for an ID. I didn’t have my ID on me. So, in the presence of the officer, I got to the room to pick it up. We were taken to a police station. We were there from 1 to 4 am. Officers were nice and cultured, but nobody was telling us why we were there.

There were three of us in my group, two colleagues from Romania and I. We weren’t being interrogated. However, the first four were properly interrogated in terms of why they were there, with whom they were there”, she stated.