Human
rights news: July 2004
|
21 July 2004 |
:: NEWS :: |
|
Police forcefully evicts alternative synod clergy from Orthodox churches |
|
|
|
Sofia, 21 July 2003 - Early today, the police started a forceful eviction of the clergy belonging to the alternative synod of the Bishop of Sofia Inokentii from 18 churches in Sofia. The police were acting on a prosecutor's warrant. Three clergymen were reportedly forcefully taken out of the Sv. Paraskeva Church and arrested. They were taken to the Fifth District Police Station. Similar raids were carried out in the region of Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad and Chepelare. According to information from the Bulgarian Legal Society, cited by the electronic journal Mediapool, some 250 church premises have been sealed and are currently guarded by police. According to the lawyer of Bishop Inokentii the prosecutor's warrant has no legal basis. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the Bulgarian Legal Society have
organized an urgent press conference. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
said that the act of the Prosecutor's Office are the gravest human rights
violation and it will have serious repercussions for Bulgaria. The Bulgarian
Legal Society has informed the embassies of Western countries in Sofia
about the grave violation of religious freedoms. |