BULGARIA

Human Rights Developments

Human rights abuses in Bulgaria were directed primarily at minority groups during 1993. In addition, the government sought to impose restrictions on thought and religion.

Helsinki Watch received numerous reports of police brutality. On June 3, 1993, Zaharie Aleksandrov Stefanov, a twenty-three-year-old ethnic Turk married to a Roma (Gypsy) woman, was arrested for allegedly having committed several thefts. Eyewitnesses to the arrest, and to his ensuing treatment at the police station, reported that Stefanov was severely beaten by the police. Stefanov was later taken to the regional police station where he died on June 5 under suspicious circumstances. Police claimed that Stefanov jumped from the window of a third floor interrogation room. Police reported that he was alone at the time.

On March 24, 1993, Khristo Nedialkov Khristov, a Rom from Stara Zagora, was arrested and beaten with clubs and kicked repeatedly by the police. A police car then took him to his parents' home where, according to a report by the Bulgarian Helsinki Citizens Assembly, a policeman "pulled his belt tight around [Khristov's] neck and held him up like a dog." Khristov was released the next day and reported to his family that he had been tortured during the night, hit with truncheons and kicked all over his body. When he was released, Khristov was unable to stand on his feet. His physical condition deteriorated after his release, and he was hospitalized that same evening.

It remains difficult for members of the Roma minority to obtain redress when they are the victims of abuses. Local prosecutors frequently do not seriously investigate crimes against Romas and often close cases without filing charges. This is especially true when the alleged abuser is a police officer. There are few cases where abusive police officers are disciplined orcharged, much less convicted, for crimes against the Roma minority.

Macedonians are not recognized as an ethnic minority in Bulgaria. Several Macedonian organizations, including United Macedonian Organization Ilinden (OMO Ilinden), have been denied permission to register because they are considered separatist organizations. In August, OMO Ilinden requested permission to organize a rally to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the Ilinden uprising of 1903. Their request was refused. Previously, on April 24, police intervened to stop efforts by Macedonians to hold a rally in honor of their revolutionary hero, Yane Sandanski. Police officers reportedly beat several of the demonstrators.

Bulgaria was struggling with the difficult transition from a repressive communist regime to a democracy. This decommunization process included the prosecution of abuses committed during the communist era, as well as legislative and administrative efforts to remove former Communist Party members from positions in a variety of governmental, economic and academic institutions. In December 1992, the National Assembly adopted the so-called "Panev" law, which provides that individuals who held, inter alia, certain positions within the Communist Party, who taught the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Marxist-Leninist Philosophy, or Scientific Communism, or had been on the teaching or research staff of the Academy of Social Sciences, can not be elected to positions in the executive bodies of scientific and academic organizations.

The Panev Law was challenged by 102 members of the National Assembly, who submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court to review the law. This petition was joined by President Zhelyu Zhelev. On February 19, the Constitutional Court upheld the law, claiming that "professionalism" and "scientific commitment" were the only criteria applied. Despite the Constitutional Court's decision, Helsinki Watch concluded that:

Although the Constitutional Court argued that the Panev Law only deals with professional standards, in fact, the law establishes categories of people that are defined as unprofessional without any effort to evaluate their qualifications. Inherent in the law is the presumption that all who, for example, taught Marxism-Leninism were unprofessional.

The implementation of the Panev Law, which began in early 1993, created severe tensions among colleagues within the university faculties in Bulgaria. In May, Radio Free Europe estimated that the law had already "led to the removal of several thousand formerly communist-affiliated academic staff from managerial positions."

There were also moves to restrict religious diversity. Growing public concern over an "invasion" of evangelical religious groups who were gaining in membership and influence led to calls for the banning or strict control of non-Orthodox religious sects. Legislation was introduced in parliament that would, among other things, establish government restrictions on non-Orthodox evangelical activities, including restrictions on church aid received from abroad.

In April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to grant a visa to Swedish Rev. Ulf Ekman, of the Word for Life religious sect. The government cited many complaints about the sect's activities in Bulgaria and claimed that the exclusion of Reverend Ekman would "protect the human rights" of Bulgarian citizens. Similarly, the Sofia daily Duma reported in April that a music teacher in the town of Plovdiv was fired for professing the teachings of the Krishna society.



The Right to Monitor

Helsinki Watch was not aware of any instance in 1993 in which human rights monitors had been hindered in their work by the government of Bulgaria.

U.S. Policy

Several high-level meetings between Bulgarian and U.S. government officials were held during the year to discuss such issues as cooperation on the environment and the war in the Balkans. However, the Administration made no significant public comment on human rights developments in Bulgaria in 1993.

The Work of Helsinki Watch

Helsinki Watch's work in Bulgaria centered on two principal issues in 1993: the decommunization process and the rights of the Roma minority. Helsinki Watch sent a mission to Bulgaria to investigate police violence against the Roma minority. On the basis of that mission, Helsinki Watch issued a newsletter in April 1993 titled "Bulgaria: Police Violence Against Gypsies," which described the police raid in the town of Pazardzhik in mid-1992, noting the extraordinarily violent tactics used and the impunity enjoyed by the police responsible.

In June, Helsinki Watch sent a fact-finding mission to Bulgaria to investigate the decommunization process and the implementation of the Panev Law. Having criticized the law when it was first considered by the parliament in 1992, Helsinki Watch wrote a letter in March 1993 urging the National Assembly to repeal the law. Helsinki Watch issued a newsletter in August titled "Decommunization in Bulgaria," which concluded that:

To the extent that the law deals with prior behavior of individuals, it imposes a penalty that is retroactive in nature. With the possible exception of some conduct that might be included within the extremely vague phrase "participation and involvement in the 'revival process,'" it is clear that none of the conduct covered by the Panev Law was prohibited by Bulgarian or international law.