Bulgaria Today

Five Bulgarian Rangers died in Iraq

Thousands of people waited for hours in bitter cold of the early morning hours in Sofia on December 30, 2003. Among them, dozens of Bulgarian politicians, relatives and citizens paid last respects to the five Bulgarian military men who were killed in a terrorist attack in the Iraqi town of Kerbala on December 27. They had gathered after one dulled Bulgarian Christmas, in the eve of one embittered-by-sorrow New Year, to share their grief and pay their last tribute to five Bulgarian servicemen killed in Iraq. The mortal remains of Major Georgi Kachorin, First Lieutenant Nikolay Saraev, and officer candidates Ivan Indzhov, Anton Petrov and Svilen Kirov, were awarded orders "For loyal service under the colors" and promoted to higher ranks posthumously. Flown to Bulgaria from Iraq, their plane was met with military honors by President Georgi Parvanov, Premier Saxe-Coburg and Chairman of Parliament Ognyan Gerdjikov. The three statesmen were the first who paid their last homage to the dead, before the caskets covered with the national tricolor. Beside them were the weeping families and friends. The national flag was at half-mast over all state institutions. The five servicemen were buried in their native places with military honors.

These young Bulgarian men died thousands of miles away from their motherland. But they died under the Bulgarian military flag, as tens and hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers have fought and died. Always in the name of their motherland Bulgaria. We understand better today that the price of Freedom is not "free".

"We face enemies which do not respect either their own lives or the lives of their families, we face enemies which do not respect any values. We are waging war against these enemies. Unfortunately, the thing we wanted less of all, occurred, despite the measures taken and the organization which was and still is on a high level. I want to offer my condolences to the families of the killed Bulgarian troops." - Ilko Dimitrov, Deputy Defense Minister

A total of 79 soldiers from the second group of Bulgaria's replacement unit left 3:14 a.m. from the Plovdiv airport amid stepped-up security. The soldiers headed to Kuwait with a US Boeing 737 flight.

The rotation of the Bulgarian units started January 15 when one hundred and fifty seven soldiers from the country's replacement unit left for Iraq. Sixty-two Bulgarian soldiers dropped out of the 480-strong replacement unit following the attack in the city of Karbala on December 27. The volunteers from the Bulgarian professional army quit the Iraq-bound unit despite the raised pay.

On 6 May, 2004, the Benghazi Criminal Court delivered death sentences against the six Bulgarian medics accused of deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The verdicts may be appealed up to a month after the motives of the two parties in the trial are announced.

Statement by Government Spokesman Dimitar Tsonev on the death sentences against our compatriots in Benghazi

06.05.2004

The death sentences against the Bulgarian medics in Benghazi are absolutely unacceptable.

The Bulgarian government will continue its policy of involving the international community, the EU and the USA in its attempts to ensure a fair trial at the next court instance. It can definitely be said that this judgment does not inscribe in the term fair judgment for the mere fact that although the motives are not known at the moment, it is clear that none of the evidences, given by the defence of the Bulgarian medics, connected to their innocence, has been taken into consideration. On the contrary – taken into consideration were only proves which are only, I would like to underline this, the confessions of our compatriots taken by force.

This means that the court judgment will not only be appealed but an attempt will be made to ensure all possibilities and conditions so to achieve a fair judgment and acquittal of our compatriots at the next court instance.

Despite of the heaviest sentences so far, Bulgaria continues to keep to the good development of the bilateral relations with Libya, part of which will be the favourable outcome of the Bulgarian medics’ case.
Following the news of verdicts ruled by Libyan court, the European Commission expressed preoccupation about the lack of compelling evidence of the guilt of the defendants. The European Union is firmly on the position of death penalty abolishment.

It is likely that Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov will visit Libya. According to Foreign Affairs Minister Solomon Passy,unless there is a dialogue with Libyan authorities, nothing could be achieved on the AIDS trial.

The United States urged the Government of Libya to take steps to resolve quickly the case of the five Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death on charges of deliberately infecting with HIV more than 400 Libyan children.

Petition for the Bulgarians in Lybia

As you probably are aware, as a result of a horrible violation of human rights, five Bulgarian nurses have been sentenced to death in Benghazi, Lybia, on May 6, 2004 after having been kept in prison on trumped up charges for five years and subjected to inhuman torture.

A committee of Canadian-Bulgarians has been formed and a letter to PM Paul Martin and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bill Graham, has been sent. We feel however that the more people join us in our plight for justice, the better! So please, visit our web-site at
http://www.ilionstudio.com/~bgmontreal/petition/index.php and please, do sign the petition at your earliest convenience!

After every hundred signatures, the petition will be automatically forwarded to Mr. Bill Graham. Please, send this link to your friends and invite them to participate.

Please, join us as we are racing against time!
Thank you very much!

The Bulgarian law as adopted bans discrimination on a number of grounds, including race, gender, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation. The law provides that in prima facie cases of discrimination, the respondent has the burden of proving that discrimination did not occur. The law establishes an anti-discrimination Commission with specialised subcommittees for racial and gender discrimination. The Commission will consist of 9 members, 5 elected by Parliament and 4 appointed by the President, and will have the power to receive and investigate complaints and issue binding rulings, as well as to impose significant sanctions on perpetrators. The law includes "class-action" provisions, such that more than one victim can join a complaint in cases where the discriminatory abuse harms groups of people.

The ERRC's legal consultant in Bulgaria, Margarita Ilieva, played a leading role in drafting and lobbying for passage of the law. The ERRC joins with Bulgarian civil society - most notably the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, which took a leading role in pressing for adoption of the law - in urging the Bulgarian government to establish without delay the anti-discrimination Commission provided by the law, and ensure that it is staffed with individuals of relevant competence and experience with human rights issues.

Peter Blagoev is a Chicago violinist from Bulgaria who came on a student visa but did not study. Blagoev claims he was persecuted in Bulgaria for being anti-communist. According to federal appellate judge Richard Posner the review board relied heavily on State Department reports painting a rosy picture of Bulgaria.

"There is evidence that Bulgaria's former communist bigwigs quickly recycled as socialists," and retain the power to persecute Blagoev if he returns, Posner wrote. He also chastised the judge for disqualifying Blagoev's expert witness because she was out of the country and had written more about Russia than Bulgaria.

Posner also criticises Attorney General John Ashcroft for cutting the number of judges on the Board of Immigration Appeals to "streamline" deportation hearings.

To "streamline" the process, Ashcroft cut the members of the Board of Immigration Appeals from 19 to 11 and put out the word among immigration judges nationwide that he wanted their backlogged cases cleared quickly, the newspaper says. It cites Blagoev's attorney, Justin Burton as saying that he hopes federal officials take Posner's criticism to heart.