The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) started testing Macedonia’s willingness to free Jovan Vraniskovski from prison without having reached any previous agreement concerning the continuation and the outcome of the talks between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric (MPC-OA). The defense lawyers of Vraniskovski, held in the Skopje prison of Idrizovo, told Dnevnik Tuesday that they were going to file a request for his pardoning to Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov.

“Apart from a request for pardoning, we are also going to file for cancelation of the measure of detention that he now serves. If the head of state accepts our requests, Vraniskovski will be completely free, from both imprisonment and detention. We are doing this with Vraniskovski’s consent,” Vraniskovski’s lawyer Aleksandar Tortevski told Dnevnik.

The release of the defrocked bishop, being held on charges of money laundering and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, is the condition that the Serbian Orthodox Church set in exchange for resuming talks over the recognition of the autocephalous status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric.  This was previously called for by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic who said he would get personally involved in this regard considering he had good relations with the Serbian church leadership. He even said that Vraniskovski’s release would be the first step for the Macedonian church to come to its desired goal.