Iva Mihailova Is in Sofia, but No Macedonian Crossing Has a Record of Her Leaving: How the Defendant in a Fatal Crash Case Left
The Interior Ministry claims Mihailova and her lawyer left illegally and were last seen on October 10; they say they crossed legally with an ID card.
Iva Mihailova, who holds Macedonian and Bulgarian citizenship, is charged before the court in Kocani with a serious offense against traffic safety over an October 2025 accident in which one person died. The prosecution alleges she drove 85 kilometers per hour, 25 over the limit, and crossed into the oncoming lane. These are the prosecution’s allegations, not established facts, and the presumption of innocence applies to her. Her passports were seized, and she had to report to police in Kocani every Monday.
Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said she left the country illegally and that the ministry has material evidence she was in Macedonia on the evening of October 10. The ministry says neither she nor her lawyer Nikolay Dimitrov has a record of exit at any border crossing, and through the Joint Contact Center Bulgarian border police found no legal entry. According to Toshkovski, the court in Kocani ordered 30 days of detention and an international arrest warrant is being prepared.
Mihailova and her lawyer insist they crossed “absolutely legally,” and she says she used an ID card. Dimitrov does not name the crossing. Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said she is at Pirogov hospital in Sofia and will be questioned about how and where she crossed the border. She claims she was persecuted because of her Bulgarian origin and could not get treatment. How exactly the crossing happened is for the investigation to establish.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 14, 2026
