Freedom of association and peaceful assembly
In 2009, freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Bulgaria faced severe trials. On several occasions the right to peaceful assembly was arbitrarily restricted. Restrictive changes were introduced in the legislation regulating this sphere. In blatant contradiction to international standards, judicial bodies restricted the right of association of several unpopular groups.
On 14 January, the police used disproportional force to disperse a rally in front of parliament. Scores of citizens were arbitrarily arrested, attacked and beaten by police officers in Sofia’s streets. The prosecution refused to initiate preliminary proceedings against MIA officers.[1]
On 16 March, then mayor of Sofia Boyko Borisov did not allow a peaceful protest of employees from a cleaning company, most of whom were Roma. Their protest concerned the termination of the concession contract with the company, as a result of which they lost their jobs.
On two occasions in 2009 the authorities in Blagoevgrad violated the right to peaceful assembly of Macedonians in Bulgaria. On 24 April, representatives of the unregistered UMO Ilinden organisation notified the mayor of Blagoevgrad that they intended to celebrate the anniversary of Gotse Delchev’s murder at his monument at 5 p.m. on 4 May. On 30 April, municipal staff gave one of the people who had filed the notification, Atanas Urdev, a letter inviting representatives of the organisation to take part in the 10 a.m. celebrations on the same date, “together with the other representatives of political and civil organizations.” In the afternoon of 4 May several activists of the movement were arrested and taken to the police station where the wreath and the ribbon they were carrying were confiscated. In this way the authorities prevented the celebration.
On 31 August, UMO Ilinden representatives notified the mayor of Blagoevgrad of their intention to celebrate the Macedonian Genocide Day at Macedonia Square on 12 September. The mayor never responded to this notification. Three days before the event representatives of the movement from Sandanski had the license plates of their cars stolen. The police in Sandanski delayed the issuance of new license plates, obviously with the purpose of preventing their trip to Blagoevgrad. Nevertheless, several UMO Ilinden activists started towards Macedonia Square. On their way they were stopped by a plainclothes’ policeman who threatened them that their celebration won’t be allowed and that it may result in a clash. The activists decided to go home, but were then arrested and taken to the police station. There, they were given police orders to abstain from illegal actions; a wreath, a ribbon with the inscription “OMO Ilinden” and three posters were confiscated.
In 2009, the courts refused to register several organisations of Macedonians in Bulgaria, on grounds that expressed an openly discriminating attitude to the Macedonian minority and which blatantly contradicted the international provisions on the freedom of association. On 29 May, the UMO Ilinden – PIRIN political party received a final refusal of its next application for registration by the Supreme Cassation Court. The party has already won a case with the ECtHR with regard to refusal of registration in 2005. It has filed another complaint against the refusal of registration that followed the court’s decision. The decision of the Supreme Cassation Court of 29 May provides grounds for a third complaint in Strasbourg.
On 7 May, the Sofia Court of Appeals sustained the decision of the Blagoevgrad District Court to deny registration to the Nikola Vaptsarov Macedonian Cultural and Educational Society. The court held that “there is no distinctive Macedonian ethnos in Bulgaria, while some of the goals listed in the association’s by-laws imply the existence of such an ethnos.” According to the court, this contradicts Article 6, para. 1 of the Constitution.
The saga of the registration of the Association of Repressed Macedonians in Bulgaria continued throughout the year. Following the refusal of registration in December 2008 and several returns of documents, postponements and additional requirements by the Blagoevgrad District Court, in the end it still denied the registration on 19 February 2010. In its explanations the court held that the activity of the association will affect “the integrity of the Bulgarian nation,” as well as that its purposes imply “to ignore the Bulgarian character of certain geographic regions” and that attaining them will “undoubtedly have a negative impact on the integrity of the Bulgarian nation and on the sovereignty enshrined in Article 2, para. 2 of the Constitution.”
At the end of 2009 and early 2010, parliament adopted amendments to the Meetings, Rallies and Manifestations Act. Some of them were aimed at making the act, adopted under the old constitution, compliant with the institutions under the 1991 Constitution. At the same time, with these amendments parliament allowed an opportunity to the state institutions to restrict any public event close to their facilities by establishing forbidden zones for such events. This caused great public outrage. In February 2010 the president sent the bill back to parliament, asking that specific spatial parameters be included to define the minimum size of designated public areas, in which public events will not be allowed. By March 2010, parliament had not made a decision on the presidential veto.
[1] See Protection against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment
