Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/mac/TEXT/HUMANrts/BULGARIA.TXT

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TITLE:  BULGARIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            BULGARIA


Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic ruled by a democratically
elected government.  President Zhelyu Zhelev, former chairman
of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), was elected in 1992 to
a 5-year term in the country's first direct presidential
elections.  Prime Minister Lyuben Berov, who headed the
government after the fall of the UDF government in 1992, lacked
a stable parliamentary majority during 1993 and 1994 and was
forced to depend on the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), heir
to the Communist party, for much of his support.  Nevertheless,
he resigned in September.  When the sitting parliament failed
to form a new cabinet, President Zhelev dissolved the
Parliament, called for new parliamentary elections in December,
and appointed a caretaker Government for the interim.  Results
of the December 18 elections gave the BSP an absolute majority
in Parliament.

Most security services are the responsibility of the Ministry
of the Interior, which controls the police, National Security
Service (NSS--civilian counterintelligence), internal security
troops, border guards, and special forces.  The President
oversees the National Intelligence Service (foreign
intelligence).  In June Parliament passed a bill regulating NSS
activities.  There were some allegations of police abuse toward
Roma.

The transformation of a centrally planned economy into a
market-oriented system has been retarded by continued political
and social resistance.  The service and consumer goods sectors
in private hands continued to grow, but progress in the
privatization of large and medium-sized state enterprises was
very slow.  Integration with Western security and economic
structures continued, and an association agreement with the
European Union entered into force.  The Government reached
agreement with its commercial creditors to restructure
$8 billion of defaulted commercial debt, concluded a standby
agreement with the International Monetary Fund, and negotiated
structural adjustment loans with the World Bank.

The Government generally respected freedom of speech, press,
association, assembly, and travel, but xenophobia, nationalism,
and antiethnic expression grew markedly among the population at
large.  Government actions and the rising level of public
intolerance significantly interfered with the activities of
some non-Eastern Orthodox religious groups.  Police beatings of
Roma during arrest continued, albeit on a reduced scale; there
were no reports that the Government tried and convicted any of
the perpetrators.  Private citizens increasingly attacked Roma
and other minority groups.  The Constitution's provisions
against ethnically based political parties continued to hamper
political expression.  Parliament, over President Zhelev's
objections, passed a judicial reform bill which could have
resulted in removal from office of the sitting Chief Prosecutor
and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a move eventually
blocked by a Constitutional Court decision.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

According to human rights observers and journalists, the body
of a Pazardzhik resident who died while in police custody
following an August roundup of suspected criminals in that town
showed traces of beating on the head and body and burn marks on
the genitals.  The man died 2 days after his detention during
the roundup, which was carried out by police from Sofia and
several other regions of the country.  Police and one human
rights group have initiated an investigation.

On September 25, a detainee died 1 day after being taken into
custody by the regional police department of Pleven.  The death
is attributed to anemia, embolism, and hematoma on the death
certificate; however, a witness told a human rights
nongovernmental organization (NGO) that the body displayed
facial injuries.  The family of the deceased plans to pursue
the case by requesting an investigation, and police have
indicated that they would be cooperative.

A police investigation of a 1993 incident in which police
allegedly beat three escaped prisoners upon recapture,
initiated in January by the Sofia prosecutor's office, was
referred to the National Investigative Service in September for
further investigation.  Two of the prisoners in that incident
were reportedly beaten to death.  The police have generally
refused the requests of human rights groups to make reports of
its investigations public.  The climate of impunity that the
Government allows to prevail is the single largest obstacle to
ending such abuses.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reported instances of disappearances.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution expressly prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman,
or degrading treatment, forcible assimilation, and subjection
to medical, scientific or other experimentation without consent.

There continued to be a number of credible reports, although
fewer than during 1993, that police beat Roma upon arrest or
during other confrontations.  Human rights groups also
complained of police brutality directed at non-Roma citizens.
To date, the Government has failed to convict and punish any
police personnel for brutality against civilians.

Conditions in some prisons are substandard, although they do
not appear to threaten life or health.  Prisoners' complaints
continued to receive media coverage, which in some cases
resulted in improved treatment.  The Government cooperated with
requests by NGO's to monitor prison conditions.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution provides for access to legal counsel from the
time of detention.  Judicial authorities must rule on the
legality of a detention within 24 hours.  Defendants have the
right to visits by family members, to examine evidence, and to
know the charges against them.  Charges may not be made public
without the permission of the Chief Prosecutor.  Pretrial
detention is limited to 2 months under normal circumstances,
although the Chief Prosecutor may extend this to 6 months and
may also restart the process.

About 30 percent of Bulgaria's approximately 8,500 prison
inmates are in pretrial detention.  In the event of a
conviction, time spent in pretrial detention is credited toward
the sentence.  The Constitution provides for bail, and some
detainees have been released under this provision, although
bail is not widely used.  Neither internal nor external exile
is used as a form or punishment.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution grants the judiciary independent and coequal
status with the legislative and executive branches.  The court
system consists of regional courts, district courts, and the
Supreme and Constitutional Courts.  A 25-member Supreme
Judicial Council appoints judges who, after serving for
3 years, are assured of tenure, except under limited, specified
circumstances.

The Constitutional Court is empowered to rescind legislation it
considers unconstitutional, settle disputes over the conduct of
general elections, and resolve conflicts over the division of
powers between the various branches of government.  Of the
12 justices on the Constitutional Court, whose term of office
is 9 years, a third are elected by the National Assembly, a
third appointed by the President, and a third elected by
judicial authorities.  Military courts handle cases involving
military personnel and some cases involving national security
matters.  The Constitutional Court does not have specific
jurisdiction in matters of military justice.

The Constitution stipulates that all courts shall conduct
hearings in public unless the proceedings involve state
security or state secrets.  In one case, the defense lawyer for
indicted mayor Yusuf Djudjo complained he had been given
inadequate access to witnesses (see below).  Defendants have
the right to know the charges against them and are given ample
time to prepare a defense.  The right of appeal is guaranteed
and widely used.  Defendants in criminal proceedings have the
right to confront witnesses and to have an attorney, provided
by the State, if necessary, in serious cases.

In June Parliament passed a judicial reform bill which
established separate Supreme Courts of Cassation (civil and
criminal appeal) and Administration.  Nearly all observers
welcomed the law's comprehensive reforms as improvements in the
judicial system, consistent with the Constitution.  However,
several elements proved controversial, particularly one
establishing the requirement that high-level judicial figures,
including the Chief Prosecutor, the Director of the National
Investigative Service, and the Presidents of the Supreme Courts
have not only 15 years' experience within the legal system but
also 5 years' experience as a judge, prosecutor, investigator,
or law researcher with academic rank.  In effect, this
requirement disqualified anyone who had not held such positions
under the Communist regime, including sitting Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court Ivan Grigorov and Chief Prosecutor Ivan
Tatarchev.  Parliament by a majority vote overruled President
Zhelev's objection to this provision.  The President then
petitioned the Constitutional Court for a ruling.  The Court
held that Grigorov and Tatarchev could not be removed from
office, but that the experience requirement was otherwise valid
and would apply to future selections for these posts.

Most observers agreed that the judiciary, while generally
independent, struggled with continuing problems in 1994.  In
addition to the confusion created by the reform bill, it is
plagued by relatively low salaries, many unfilled positions,
and a heavy backlog of cases which sparked complaints that
pretrial detention is excessively lengthy.  Partly as a legacy
of communism, and partly because of the court system's
structural and personnel problems, most citizens have little
confidence in their judicial system.

A number of criminal cases against former leaders for alleged
abuses during the Communist period were carried forward in
1994.  In January a Supreme Court panel upheld the 1992
conviction of former dictator Todor Zhivkov for abuse of power
involving personal expense accounts and state privileges.
Zhivkov's sentence was upheld by one review panel but remains
suspended pending further supervisory review by the Supreme
Court.  A second case begun in 1993 involving a charge of
embezzlement for giving grant aid to Communist parties in other
countries (the "Moscow case") moved forward slowly.  In another
case, 43 former high-level Communists were indicted in 1994 for
having given grant aid during the 1980's to then friendly
governments in the developing world such as Cuba, Angola, and
Libya.  Some human rights observers criticized these and
previous indictments, asserting the activities in question were
political and economic in nature, not criminal acts.  The Chief
Prosecutor responded that the transfer of funds had been
carried out without parliamentary approval and was thus
illegal.  President Zhelev in August pardoned on grounds of ill
health former Prime Minister Georgi Atanasov, convicted in 1993
of embezzlement of state funds, and he was released from
prison.  Former Minister of Economy and Planning Stoyan
Ovcharov, convicted on the same charge, remained in prison.

Little progress was made in a case begun in 1993 concerning the
forced assimilation and expulsion of ethnic Turks in 1984-85
and 1989.  Human rights groups complain that local prosecutors
and magistrates sometimes fail vigorously to pursue crimes
committed against minorities.  In a trial relating to the
notorious death camps set up by the Communists after they came
to power in 1944, 3 defendants were charged with the murder of
14 camp inmates.  A key witness in the case was murdered in
September, and some speculated that her murder was intended to
frustrate the prosecution of the case.  Police authorities
initiated an investigation.  The trial, itself, has been
delayed further while replacements are found for two jurors.

A controversial 1992 "lustration" act ("Law for Additional
Requirements Toward Scientific Organizations and the Higher
Certifying Commission") known as the "Panev law" continued in
effect in 1994.  Under this law, former secretaries and members
of Communist party committees are barred from positions as
academic council members, university department heads, deans,
rectors, and chief editors of science magazines.  By one
conservative estimate, a total of 1,637 people have lost
positions in academic institutions alone due to application of
the Panev Law.  The Act applies a presumption of collective
guilt that conflicts with international human rights standards.

In October 1993, a local prosecutor removed Satovcha mayor
Yusuf Djudjo from office on charges that he had falsified
official documents and abused his administrative powers by
intimidating Pomaks (Muslims of Slavic ancestry).  The charge
of intimidation was later dropped for lack of evidence, but
Djudjo was convicted in 1994 on the charge of falsifying
documents and given a suspended sentence.  An examination of
the documents in question suggests that the changes made were
minor and without significant ethnic implication, e.g.,
changing the name "Asan" to "Hasan," or "Ibraimova" to
"Ibrahimova."  Despite protests by Djudjo's lawyer that he had
inadequate access to witnesses, the Supreme Court upheld
Djudjo's conviction.  Human rights groups, including Amnesty
International, protested that the proceedings showed clear bias
against the defendant.  They also complained that provisions in
the Penal Procedural Code give prosecutors the right to remove
appointed and elected officials, who have little satisfactory
recourse.

Bulgaria has no political prisoners, although it appears that
political motives lie behind some indictments of former
Communist leaders on a variety of charges.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Constitution provides for inviolability of the home,
protects the freedom and confidentiality of correspondence, and
provides for the right to choose one's place of work and
residence.  Parliament passed a bill in June regulating the
activities of the NSS, which is responsible for civilian
counterintelligence.  The law allows the Interior Minister to
authorize electronic surveillance for up to 24 hours without
informing other government agencies, if he determines there is
imminent danger to national security.  Some human rights groups
asserted that the Government has carried out unjustified
surveillance of religious groups and of the outlawed Macedonian
group UMO-Ilinden (see Section 2.b.).  Labor leader Krustyo
Petkov charged that security services monitored union
activities during the period before a threatened general strike
in May.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution prohibits censorship of the press and mass
media, and the Government generally respected this prohibition.
The variety of newspapers published by political parties and
other organizations represented the full spectrum of political
opinion, and foreign newspapers circulated without hindrance.
A notable degree of self-censorship exists in the press among
journalists who believe they must conform to what are often
heavily politicized editorial views.  Large financial groups
hold controlling interests in many nominally independent
national dailies and in some cases intervened directly to
control editorial content.

Following an October 1993 newspaper article which accused a
high-level prosecutor of using his position to acquire an
apartment at a low price, the Chief Prosecutor issued a warrant
to begin an investigation of the case.  The Union of Bulgarian
Journalists and human rights groups complained the warrant did
not specify charges and amounted to an effort to intimidate the
press.  On March 31, the Sofia Regional Court terminated the
case for technical reasons, effectively closing the case.  In
November, the press reported, the Chief Prosecutor's Office
began a preliminary proceeding against the editor in chief of
the Bulgarian Socialist Party's daily newspaper, charging him
with insulting the President in an earlier article.  The
President said that he did not need the "protective measures"
taken by the Chief Prosecutor's Office, and the Deputy Chief
Prosecutor characterized the action as only an "examination"
rather than a preliminary proceeding.  Nevertheless, some
observers thought the incident might have a negative effect on
freedom of the press in Bulgaria.

Most television broadcasting is in state hands and under
parliamentary supervision.  Two channels broadcast in
Bulgarian, while a third broadcasts Russian programming, and a
fourth broadcasts a mixture of Cable News Network,
international, and French-language programming.  Bulgaria's
first private television channel received a license in 1993 and
began limited broadcasting in July 1994.  Foreign government
radio programs, such as those of the British Broadcasting
Corporation and the Voice of America, had unrestricted access
to commercial Bulgarian radio frequencies.  Television and
radio news programs present opposition views but are generally
seen as being biased in favor of the Government.  There are no
formal restrictions on programming.  Some political groups
complained that coverage was one-sided, although they
acknowledged that their representatives were interviewed
regularly by media journalists.  Both television and radio
provide a variety of news and public interest programming,
including talk format and public opinion shows.

More than 30 independent radio stations are licensed in
Bulgaria.  The Government twice required Radio Aura of the
American University in Blagoevgrad to stop broadcasting, and it
complained of harassment; the Government correctly asserted
that the station was broadcasting beyond its licensed area of
operations and had never gone through the procedure to obtain
an appropriate license.  Other private stations complained that
their licenses unduly restricted the strength of their
transmissions in comparison to state-owned stations.  Some
Turkish-language broadcasting takes place.  The Government owns
all radio transmitter facilities.

Private book publishing remained active, with more than
50 publishers in business.  With the notable exception of the
Panev law described in Section 1.e., there was continued
academic freedom.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for the right to peaceful and unarmed
assembly.  Permits from municipal authorities are required for
rallies and assemblies held outdoors, and most legally
registered organizations were routinely granted permission to
assemble.  Many non-Orthodox religious groups reported
difficulties obtaining permits for outdoor assemblies as well
as for renting assembly halls.  Vigorous political rallies and
demonstrations were a common occurrence and took place without
government interference.

Bulgaria, as a member state of the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe, has undertaken to respect the rights of
individuals and groups freely to establish their own political
parties or other political organizations.  Despite this
undertaking, there are constitutional and statutory
restrictions that limit the right of association and meaningful
participation in the political process.  For example, Article
44 of the Constitution prohibits organizations which threaten
the country's territorial integrity or unity or that incite
racial, ethnic, or religious hatred.  It barred a Macedonian
rights group, UMO-Ilinden, from legal registration since 1990
on the grounds that it espouses separatist views.  Police in
1994 forcibly broke up its attempts to hold public meetings.
TMO-Ilinden, a related cultural group, had its legal
registration suspended in 1993 at the request of the Chief
Prosecutor.  George Solunski, leader of this group, was
arrested in June 1993 on a charge of attempted murder for
allegedly firing a shot at a political opponent.  The murder
charge was dropped, but Solunski was kept in pretrial detention
on a charge of hooliganism until January 1994.  The case
remains open.

The Constitution forbids the formation of political parties
along religious, ethnic, or racial lines and prohibits
citizens' associations from engaging in political activity.
These restrictions were used in 1991 to challenge the
legitimacy of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), which
has a mainly Muslim constituency.  A 1991 Constitutional Court
ruling preserved the party's legal status.  Some observers
believe the Court's ruling was definitive, while other believe
the MRF remains vulnerable to a new challenge to its legal
status.  Its right to compete in the National Assembly
elections held on December 18 was not challenged.

A Roma party, denied registration in 1991 on the grounds it was
ethnically based, chose not to challenge this stricture in
1994.  A party which professes to represent the interests of
Bulgaria's Pomak (Muslim of Slavic descent) population was
registered as a political party.  To date, its legal status has
not been challenged.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The ability of a number of religious groups to operate freely
came under attack in Bulgaria in 1994, both as a result of
government action and because of a rising tide of public
intolerance.  Dozens of articles in a broad range of newspapers
depicted lurid and inaccurate pictures of the activities of
non-Orthodox religious groups, attributing teen suicides and
the breakup of families to the activities of these religious
groups.

The Government refused visas and residence permits for
missionaries, and some came under physical attack in the street
and in their homes.  A skinhead group attacked the Bulgarian
Church of God in Ruse during a religious service, seriously
injuring eight people.  Members of the Mormon Church complained
of continued acts of harassment, with limited, indifferent
police response.

Credible charges of police complicity were raised by a human
rights organization and the press in the April 15 shooting
death of Yordan Tsolov, an Orthodox priest in Surnitsa.
Reports differ as to why a police officer shot at the priest,
but a human rights organization cited eyewitness accounts that
material facts about the case were misreported.  To date, no
criminal proceedings have been initiated.

Parliament passed amendments to the Families and Persons Act,
tightening registration requirements for groups whose
activities had a religious element.  More than 75 groups which
had originally registered with the courts as civil
organizations were given 3 months to apply for reregistration
through the Religious Affairs Directorate.  After review by the
Directorate and the Council of Ministers, more than two-thirds
of them were denied legal registration.  Among those turned
down were a Bulgarian chapter of Gideon International, Jehovah's
Witnesses, and several Muslim groups.  Human rights groups
protested this action as unconstitutional on the grounds that it
was an executive branch revocation of a judicial branch action
and that it denied religious freedom.  Gideon International and
some other groups are reapplying, which they are free to do.

Human rights groups credibly charged that the NSS had conducted
surveillance and infiltration of religious groups, including
those legally registered.  A teacher in Karlovo was fired on
the grounds that she had proselytized students, although she
claimed she had mentioned her adherence to Jehovah's Witnesses
only after normal school hours.

The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as
the "traditional" religion of Bulgaria.  A number of major
religious bodies, including the Muslim and Jewish communities,
receive government financial support.  For those religious
groups that were able to maintain their registration, there
were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on
private religious instruction.  A school for imams, a Muslim
Cultural Center, university theological faculties, and
religious primary schools operated freely.  Many new mosques
were constructed, primarily in the southern regions.  Bibles
and other religious materials in the Bulgarian language were
freely imported and printed, and Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish
publications were published on a regular basis.

The schism which opened in the Orthodox Church in 1992
persisted in 1994.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

Freedom of movement within the country and the right to leave
it are constitutionally enshrined and not limited in practice,
with the exception that some areas along the border are off
limits both to foreigners and Bulgarians not resident therein.
Every citizen has the right to return to Bulgaria, may not be
forcibly expatriated, and may not be deprived of citizenship
acquired by birth.  A number of former political emigrants were
granted passports and returned to visit or live in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria pursued agreements with Poland and Germany for the
repatriation of thousands of Bulgarians illegally resident in
those countries.

Bulgarian law provides for the granting of asylum to persons
persecuted for their opinions or activities based on standards
in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and
its 1967 Protocol.  Estimates of the number of illegal aliens
resident in Bulgaria range from 15,000 to 30,000.  Bulgaria
often serves as a temporary refuge for third-country nationals
seeking to travel to the West.  Approximately 600 refugees have
applied for asylum.  A Bureau of Territorial Asylum and
Refugees, established in 1993, is preparing to process
applications for refugee status.  Protests by skinhead and
local citizens' groups, however, have frustrated the Bureau's
plans to establish a refugee processing center in the Sofia
area as of November 1, and attempts to locate centers at
alternate sites in the country have likewise failed.

Approximately 100 to 150 persons fleeing the conflict in the
former Yugoslavia are resident in Bulgaria and have received
assistance from the Government and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees; an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 more
have not registered officially and are staying with friends and
relatives.