Human rights news - January 2001
31-01-2001, Sofia - Less than 12 hours after 16-year-old Eleonora Dimitrova was shot dead in Sofia, the police have detained a suspect for the killing. Police reports only say that he is a police officer.
16-year-old Eleonora Dimitrova was shot dead in the centre of Sofia a little after midnight on January 30. The tragedy occurred while Eleonora and her boyfriend were getting into their car parked opposite Sofia's Garbo Cafe, which the couple had left some minutes earlier. Several shots were fired, one of which wounded Eleonora fatally, piercing her lung and coming out through her chest. She was taken to the Pirogov Emergency Hospital, where she died shortly afterwards of acute bloodloss.
In the first hours after information about the killing was reported, opposition parties demanded immediate changes in the Interior Ministry, including the resignation of Interior Minister Emanuil Yordanov, because of the "escalating crime rate" in the country.
According to the initial information from Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Slavcho Bossilkov, criminologists were working on three versions of Eleonora's murder, but he did not reveal any details. Only late last night, the ministry press centre released information that the law enforcement officials have detained a suspect for the shooting. According to these official reports the fatal shot was fired by a police officer from the Sixth District Police Station in Sofia. top
11-01-2001, Sofia - The 24 Chassa daily reveals that a man in his forties died from heart failure during a police raid this Tuesday in Sofia.
Police officers from the Sixth District Police Station were searching for a man suspected of murder and robbery in the "Pavlovo" restaurant, when one of the clients tried to escape through a bathroom window. The man was seized by the police and handcuffed because, according to Interior Ministry reports, he put up fierce resistance. Later, the detained is said to have complained of dizziness and fainted. The man died before emergency medical aid arrived. The man has been identified as 46-year-old Milotin Mironov. The Sofia Directorate of the Interior revealed that Mironov was not the suspected criminal.
The central dailies give conflicting accounts about the exact cause of death. Some report that the autopsy results give massive heart stroke as the cause of death, while others claim that the results are still not ready and the cause of death is still not known.
The BHC check at the Department of Medical Forensics established, that according to the death certificate, the cause of Milotinov’s death will remain “unspecified” until the results of additional examinations are ready. Meanwhile, the autopsy has established a previous heart attack, as well as three broken ribs on the man’s body.
The BHC check at the Department of Medical Forensics established, that according to the death certificate, the cause of Milotinov's death will remain "unspecified" until the results of additional examinations are ready. Meanwhile, the autopsy has established a previous heart attack, as well as three broken ribs on the man's body. top
10-01-2001, Sofia - The film documentary "Technology of Evil", broadcast this week of national television, stirred a discussion on the so called "revival process". The documentary depicts the repressive policies of the communist regime towards the Bulgarian Turks and analyses the mechanisms of the "revival process" which affected some 840,000 Bulgarian Turks. They were forced to change their Muslim names with Bulgarian ones, were not allowed to speak Turkish or practice their religion, and shortly before the demise of the communist regime were forced to leave the country.
The film describes the life of several victims of the "revival process" - people who were beaten, imprisoned, interned, or in some other way humiliated, so that they would change their names. "Technology of Evil" reveals the facts surrounding the killing or wounding of several people with firearms by the security forces during the forceful name-changing campaign. The declassified archives of several state institutions have been used to establish those accountable for the campaign - the higher echelons of the party-state bureaucracy and the Interior Ministry leadership. The operation of the security forces in the Kurdjali district is described in detail. top
08-01-2001, Sofia - According to reports from the Romani Baht Foundation, Mikhail Georgiev, chair of the foundation, has been accused by the local municipal authorities of "obstructing the census process".
At the end of 2000, the Romani Baht Foundation addressed the NGO sector in Bulgaria with a memorandum to support the initiative to include people from the minorities as census officials in the forthcoming March census. "We will be grateful if you lobby before the local authorities to have such people in the working groups," the Foundation's memorandum read. The foundation proposed an alternative provided also in Bulgarian law - that in the regions with a special ethnic environment, the census officials are accompanied by people from the respective minority.
The memorandum triggered negative responses from the Krasna Polyana municipal authorities in Sofia, who accused Georgiev in anti-public activities and obstruction of the census process. The municipal authorities protested before the Sofia Directorate of the Interior, who ordered a check into the case. Mr. Georgiev has been approached by representatives of the Third District Police Station to sign a police protocol to the effect that he will not obstruct the census process. top
06-01-2001, Sofia - The police detained a group of 5 activists from the revolutionary youth organisation "Che Guevarra" for 24 hours. The group had raised the slogan "NATO Out" (with a swastika inside the 'O') during the commemoration of the 153rd anniversary from the birth of the Bulgarian poet, publicist and revolutionary Hristo Botev. President Stoyanov called the act a "sacrilege", and the police detained the protesters for disturbing public order. The protesters were released the next day.
The five activists will be prosecuted for hooliganism under Art. 325, para. 1 of the Bulgarian Penal Code, which provides up to 2 years imprisonment or corrective labour for "indecent acts, grossly violating the public order and expressing open disrespect for society". top