The first court hearing of the case against Lyubcho Georgievski, chairman of the Ivan Mihailov cultural centre is scheduled for 14 July in Bitola. He stands accused of spreading racism and xenophobia online, and was interrogated by the prosecutor’s office in Bitola in December 2022, after reports by the opposition party The Left. According to Georgievski’s lawyer, the evidence presented are “facts of history, photographs and quotes mostly by Ivan Mihailov”.

In April, Georgievski was questioned by the prosecutor’s office in connection with the same charges, this time after a report by the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination of North Macedonia. By an amendment to the Law on Associations and Foundations, the Ivan Mihailov association in Bitola was deregistered over the unacceptable, according to North Macedonia, name “Ivan Mihailov”, BTA reports.