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Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2014

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Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 Annual report of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee April 2015 2 The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organisation for the protection of human rights. It was founded on 14 July 1992. This report was produced with the support of the Open Society Institute – Budapest and the Oak Foundation. Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2014 Sofia, March 2015 The report can be freely quoted upon condition that the source is acknowledged. Authors: The report was written by: Antoaneta Nenkova, Atanas Atanasov, Desislava Ivanova, Gergana Yancheva, Dilyana Angelova, Elitsa Gerginova, Zhenya Ivanova, Iliana Savova, Kaloyan Stanev, Krassimir Kanev, Margarita Ilieva, Radoslav Stoyanov, Slavka Kukova, Stanimir Petrov, Yana Buhrer Tavanier. The access to information section is based on materials provided by the Access to Information Programme. English language editor: Desislava Simeonova Publisher: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 7 Varbitsa Street, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel. 3592 944 0670 www.bghelsinki.org BULGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 3 Table of contents 1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 ................................................................... 4 2. RIGHT TO LIFE, PROTECTION FROM TORTURE, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT ... 6 3. R IG H T TO LIBERTY AND SECURITY O F P E R S O N ........................................................................ 13 4. INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND FAIR TRIAL .............................................................. 15 5. RIGHT TO RESPECT FOR PRIVATE AND FAMILY LIFE, HOME AND T HE CORRESPONDENCE 18 6. FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION ................................................................................. 23 7. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION ................................................... 28 8. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION ...................................................................................................................... 35 9. CONDITIONS IN PLACES OF DETENTION ..................................................................................... 36 10. PROTECTION FROM DISCRIMINATION ........................................................................................ 48 11. RIGHT TO ASYLUM ......................................................................................................................... 58 12. RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES IN INSTITUTIONS ....................................... 66 13. WOMEN'S RIGHTS ........................................................................................................................... 72 14. RIGHTS OF THE CHILD ................................................................................................................. 78 15. RIGHTS OF LGBTI PEOPLE ........................................................................................................... 86 BULGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 4 1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 In 2014, Bulgaria was governed by three consecutive governments. Having lost its parliamentary support, Prime Minister Oresharski's government resigned on July 23. On August 6, the President appointed by decree a caretaker government headed by constitutional law professor Georgi Bliznashki. Early parliamentary elections were held on October 5. The elections were held under the old Election Code, which contains certain restrictions that contradict international law. Both the Election Code and the Constitution prohibit individuals deprived of liberty and individuals placed under guardianship to vote. The Code also prohibits political campaigning in a language different than Bulgarian. During the election campaign, several representatives of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), including its chair, Lyutfi Mestan, were fined on several occasions for addressing their voters in Turkish. During the elections, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) sent a limited election observation mission. Its final report was published in January 2015. In it OSCE/ODIHR once again recommended the elimination of the prohibition of political campaigning in minority languages.1 The report also includes other recommendations, such as to take more serious measures against vote-buying, to promote women's political involvement, to guarantee fair coverage of the campaign by the media, to ensure transparency of media ownership, to provide an effective mechanism to appeal election results. Most of these recommendations, including the one on the elimination of the prohibition of minority language campaigning, were already made during previous OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions, but were disregarded by the authorities. On the contrary, during the election campaign some media thrived on hunting for candidates using languages different than the official one in their electoral messages, while the competent state authorities readily imposed high fines on violators. The parliamentary elections were won by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party. GERB was, however, unable to get a majority in the newly formed parliament and had to form a coalition with other parliamentary parties. Following a month of negotiations, in early November GERB signed a coalition agreement with the Reformist Bloc, a centre-right coalition of parties. Later, two more political parties, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) spin-off ABV, headed by former President Georgi Parvanov, and the Patriotic Front coalition, signed separate agreements to support the coalition government. The Patriotic Front is a neo-totalitarian formation consisting of the National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB) and VMRO and some other less nationalistic parties. Both NFSB and VMRO are known for their anti-minority rhetoric and for the denial of basic political democracy principles and human rights. In public appearances, as well as in broadcast on the SKAT cable channel, their representatives often instigate hate, discrimination and violence on ethnic and religious grounds, more specifically against Roma, 1 OSCE/ODIHR, Republic of Bulgaria: Early Parliamentary Elections, 5 October 2014. OSCE/ODIHR Limited Observation Mission Final Report, Warsaw, 7 January 2015, p. 23, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/bulgaria/133571?download=true (accessed 6 April 2015). BULGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2014 5 Muslims and asylum-seekers.2 In its electoral political agenda, the Patriotic Front called for the demolition of all illegal buildings in Roma neighbourhoods (approximately 70% of the housing in these areas) and involuntary placement of their residents in trailers “on unused state land outside large communities”.3 “24/7 police presence” is envisioned for these concentration camp-like facilities. The agenda also includes Islamophobic calls.4 The Patriotic Front is not the only neo-totalitarian formation in the Bulgarian parliament. The Ataka party, known for years for its racist and xenophobic rhetoric,5 also received parliamentary representation, albeit with a relatively low result. The Reformist Bloc played an active role in recruiting the Patriotic Front as a coalition partner. The influence of a neo-totalitarian formation such as the Patriotic Block on the country's governance poses a serious obstacle to the implementation of badly needed adequate policies in the field of human rights. The negative effects became evident immediately after the constitution of the new government in the racist rhetoric that was used both in parliament and at other public forums by both representatives of this political formation and a cabinet minister.6 On December 7, minister of healthcare Petar Moskov said on the occasion of an attack against an emergency medical service team in a Roma neighbourhood that emergency medical service teams would enter Roma neighbourhoods “only if an agreement is reached with the local community’s ‘opinion leaders’ to personalise the responsibility of the said population, or accompanied by police. When possible and as possible”. This racist threat spurred a storm of indignation among the Roma community and rights activists. Several organisations and individuals addressed the prosecution insisting that the minister is held responsible for instigating racial hatred and discrimination. At the end of February 2015, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office refused to initiate penal proceedings, accepting that Moskov’s actions did not constitute targeted and deliberate instigation of racial discrimination, violence or hatred based on race, nationality or ethnic origin. The cooperation of the authorities with international human rights organisations in 2014 posed a serious problem. By the end of 2014, the number of non-implemented decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Bulgaria pending review by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe totalled 325. This was less than in 2013 but still among the highest per capita among the Council of Europe member states. The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published their reports in July and September, respectively.7 Both reports criticised harshly the policy of the Bulgarian authorities to minorities, migrants and people of non-heterosexual
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