Skopje, 24 January 2025 (MIA) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of North Macedonia voiced concern in a press release Friday and said it would seek clarification from the Serbian authorities over their decision to expel a Macedonian national from the country and ban her from entering Serbia for a year.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to voice its concern over the expulsion by the Republic of Serbia and the one-year entry ban imposed on a Macedonian national with a regulated stay in the country, who, according to the claims of the relevant body in the Republic of Serbia, represents a ‘security threat’,” the Ministry said in the press release.

The Ministry said it would seek clarification over the justification of the implemented measures, underscoring its expectations that they were implemented in line with the legislation of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the European and international human rights standards.

“We sincerely expect this case to be resolved appropriately, through dialogue and with goodwill from both sides, in the interest of preserving the continuity in the efforts to build friendly and good neighborly relations between the two countries,” the Ministry added in the press release.

Earlier on Friday, MIA reported that Macedonian national Iskra Roso, the executive director of the Citizens' Association for Support of People with Disability, was among the 13 foreign nationals detained by Serbian police and deported from the country during the night of January 21-22.

In a written statement for MIA, Roso said she was detained by police without any explanation on January 21 during her stay in Belgrade as part of a workshop on strategies for generating income for non-profit organizations. She later learned she was banned from entering the country for 12 months.  

A total of 13 foreign nationals from Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Albania, Moldova, Romania, Austria and Czechia were detained and then expelled from the country on the night between January 21 and 22, according to reports from Balkan media outlets. They were visiting the country to take part in a two-day workshop, named “NGO Academy”, organized by the Austrian Erste Foundation and the Vienna School of Economics.

The expulsions come as the country faces mass anti-government protests following the collapse of a train station roof in Novi Sad in November, which killed 15 people. Protesting students and citizens called for a general strike, or "general civil disobedience", to be held in the country on Friday.

Photo: MIA Archive