URGENT: YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION & ACTION IS REQUIRED.
July 9, 2009
To:
The EU Parliament,UN Missions,Human Rights Agencies,World Media,US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,Hellenic Foreign Minister Dora Bakogianni,& the Hellenic Parliament
The EU Parliament,UN Missions,Human Rights Agencies,World Media,US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,Hellenic Foreign Minister Dora Bakogianni,& the Hellenic Parliament
On January 29, 2009 we brought to your attention the arrest on January 28, 2009 of Mr. Vasil Gligorov (aka Vasko Gligorijevic) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (the FYROM) after police charged into Mr. Gligorov's apartment where they arrested him purportedly because of his activist actions. Mr. Gligorov, a university graduate in history, has devoted his efforts at improving Slavic-Greek friendship through the advancement of historiographic and anthropological scholarship about Southern Slavs in the Balkans and Greeks as well as the various aspects of their mutual cultural and political relations. He is a strong critic of the extreme nationalistic narrative of "Makedonism" in FYROM and one of the leading members of the Slavic Philhellenic Network.At that time, Mr. Gligorov was imprisoned in a "mental institution" where he was subjected to physical and mental torture and came close to death. He was subsequently released after strenuous objections from the international community.On July 4, 2009 Mr. Gligorov sent the following message to a trusted individual: "I may be arrested again. I know that from my sources. Please check me on this email in the next 12 hours. Do not alert nobody for now, please, it is not certain. But do check me every 12 hours for few days. If repeatedly do not answer in next hours or days, I'm dead, I'm gone."Mr. Gligorov has not been heard from since then and according to our sources he has been arrested again per direct order of Prime Minister Gruevski and has been sent to prison in Tetovo.
FYROM must abandon the mentality of its communist past era that has resulted in ill treatment of its minorities and hostile irredentist behavior towards its neighbors. The FYROM leadership's eerie fascist performance is continuous. Once more this alleged government-supported action is a blatant case of extremely repressive behavior akin to a totalitarian regime as opposed to a country, which aspires to become a member of the European Union and NATO. In any free democratic society, voices such as Mr. Gligorov's cannot and must not be suppressed. When a misfortune such as Mr. Grigorov's, occurs, it becomes the concern of all peace-loving nations on earth. We call upon your Agency and other Human Rights NGOs to investigate the aforementioned case and facilitate the immediate release of Mr. Gligorov from detention.We thank you in advance for your attention and appropriate action on this matter.
FYROM must abandon the mentality of its communist past era that has resulted in ill treatment of its minorities and hostile irredentist behavior towards its neighbors. The FYROM leadership's eerie fascist performance is continuous. Once more this alleged government-supported action is a blatant case of extremely repressive behavior akin to a totalitarian regime as opposed to a country, which aspires to become a member of the European Union and NATO. In any free democratic society, voices such as Mr. Gligorov's cannot and must not be suppressed. When a misfortune such as Mr. Grigorov's, occurs, it becomes the concern of all peace-loving nations on earth. We call upon your Agency and other Human Rights NGOs to investigate the aforementioned case and facilitate the immediate release of Mr. Gligorov from detention.We thank you in advance for your attention and appropriate action on this matter.
Sincerely,
Nina Gatzoulis,
President Maria Hatzinakos,
