Table of Contents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction1 Shootings - inappropriate use of firearms by police officers resulting in death or injury of the victim3 Deaths in custody resulting from torture and ill-treatment5 Torture, beatings and other ill-treatment cases6 Investigations into reports of deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment9 Discriminatory treatment of Roma11 Response of the Bulgarian authorities12 Amnesty International's Recommendations13 Appendix 1: Deaths in suspicious circumstances16 Mitko Angelov and Yordan Angelov16 Iliya Gherghinov16 Assen Ivanov17 Iliyan Veselinov Nikolov17 Unidentified Rom apprehended by border guards18 Angel Zubchinov18 Appendix 2: Shootings, Torture and Ill-treatment Cases 19 Yanko Khristov Yanev19 Valentin Petkov Simeonov19 Ill-treatment and shooting of Roma in Rakitovo20 Vasil Vasilev21 Desislav Pavlov22 Girgina Dimova Toteva23 Dimitar Stankov Stankov23 Iliya Assenov Lambov23 Ivan Vasilev Ivanov 24 Gancho Stefanov 25 Margarita Kostadinova25 Stoyan Apostolov and Angel Dichev25 Dimitur Velev26 S. P.27 Kamen Chaushev27 Velislav Dobrev27 Ahmed Mustafov28 Shooting Incidents Involving Red Beret Officers28 Appendix 3: Some cases of shootings by law enforcement officers which are under investigation by the authorities30 BULGARIA Shootings, deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officers “In the war on crime there will be victims”, Lyubomir Nachev, Minister of the Interior, May 1995. Introduction In November 1989, after 45 years of totalitarian rule, Bulgaria embarked on a peaceful transition to democracy and very quickly significant improvements in the observance of human rights took place. In particular, the campaign of enforced assimilation of ethnic Turks was ended, political prisoners were released and restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly were lifted. A moratorium on the execution of the death penalty was adopted in June 1990. The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, adopted in July 1991, contains provisions on most rights and freedoms recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the main international treaties. International instruments ratified by the National Assembly become part of domestic law. Furthermore, international provisions take precedence if “any domestic legislation stipulates otherwise”. 1 By ratifying the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in September 1992, the Bulgarian Government made a further commitment to safeguarding human rights.2 However, human rights violations persist in Bulgaria: they include shootings, torture, beating and other forms of ill-treatment of detainees, sometimes resulting in death. The rising number and regional distribution of the reported cases indicate that they are numerous and widespread. Daily accounts of such incidents reveal a pattern of casual violence and illegal acts by police officers throughout the country. The problem is further compounded by a pattern of impunity of law enforcement officers responsible for human rights violations. International standards require prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into reports of human rights violations by law enforcement officials. Whether and how often these standards are fulfilled is difficult to ascertain. Information on investigations is seldom made public. Usually details are only released in the most notorious cases where public outrage needs to be appeased. Failure to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations is in itself a violation of international obligations. Furthermore, in order to prevent such human rights violations from reoccurring, the Bulgarian authorities need to indicate clearly that such conduct is totally unacceptable. These human rights violations occur in the context of serious social and economic difficulties which affect most of the population. Five years of unstable political development and inadequate legislative reforms were marked by the apparent inability of a succession of governments to tackle growing corruption in state institutions and to fight organized crime. The atmosphere of lawlessness is heightened by numerous reports describing illicit gains made by the former nomenklatura, some of whom are still 1 1Article 5, paragraph 4, of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. 2Bulgaria is also a party to other human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR) and the United Nations (UN) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN Convention against Torture). AI Index: EUR 15/07/96Amnesty International June 1996 Bulgaria: Shootings, deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officers active politicians, and a new class of entrepreneurs who ruthlessly abused legislative and judicial shortcomings of a state in transition. In January 1994 a series of gangland killings culminated in an incident in Beli Brezi in Sofia in which riot police, reportedly trailing an underground suspect, shot dead two anti- terrorist officers by mistake. The killed officers were allegedly guarding a meeting between government officials and members of the criminal underworld.3 “Our state is seriously ill and there is no force in the country, not even the Ministry of the Interior, that can deal with it”, said Nikolay Slatinski, then chief of the Parliamentary Commission for National Security after a meeting with Viktor Mikhailov, then Minister of the Interior. “Before the very eyes of the people, the political elite has become an accomplice in the breakup of the Bulgarian State.” The Ministry of the Interior then reportedly initiated an inquiry into possible links between police and the criminal underworld but there was no information as to whether it was completed and if so with what results. In January 1995 Reneta Indzhova, then outgoing Prime Minister, speaking in a television interview stressed that her government had tried to “halt the chaos and further collapse of the decaying state machine”. She warned the newly elected government of the Bulgarian Socialist Party that “tendencies perpetuating the convergence of the state and the mafia” would lead to a state more dangerous than even the most open totalitarianism.4 Chronic lack of funds to maintain state and other public services also make it difficult to cope adequately with growing criminality. Law enforcement units are understaffed and underpaid. Their feelings of frustration are often used to excuse human rights abuses by police officers. In addition, police officers have traditionally placed the protection of state interests above the universally recognized rights of individuals. Education and training designed to promote a human rights culture among public officials and law enforcement officers are therefore imperative. Shootings - inappropriate use of firearms by police officers resulting in death or injury of the victim Amnesty International has recorded an increasing number of incidents in which police shoot people in circumstances which are prohibited by principles 4 and 9 of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which state that: "Principle 4 - Law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall as far as possible apply non- violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use force and firearms only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result. "Principle 9 - Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a 3In January 1996 two police officers responsible for the killing were brought to trial, at which the hearings were conducted in camera. Their superior officer at the time, Captain Khristo Savov, later chief of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs Unit for Combatting Organized Crime, and another police officer were arrested on 26 February 1996 in Sofia on charges of racketeering. 4 4Reuters report from Sofia of 13 January 1995. Amnesty International June 1996AI Index: EUR 15/07/96 Bulgaria: Shootings, deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officers particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life."5 In November 1995 Amnesty International requested information from the Minister of the Interior about five shootings in which the victims were not suspected of particularly serious crimes, were unarmed and did not endanger the lives of the police officers involved or anyone else.6 At the time of publication of this report, however, the government has not provided this information. In fact, in some of these cases inappropriate use of firearms by police placed at risk lives of other people as well as the criminal suspects they attempted to apprehend. According to an article published in Standart on 12 April 1995, in the period between 18 February 1992 and 31 January 1995 “eight innocent people died and six were wounded by police officers”. On 18 May 1994 Violeta Georgieva was killed by four or five shots fired at point blank range by police officers in Kyustendil.