Bias Motive |
Groups |
Key facts | |||||
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| Bulgaria | Regional Court - Stara Zagora (Районен съд - Стара Загора) | 2022 | Bulgaria / Regional Court - Stara Zagora / Decision No 216 of 6 April 2022 on civil case No 5629/2021, ECLI:BG:RC553:2022:20210105629.001 | Religion | Muslims | The case is about harassment on the grounds of religion. A Muslim man serving a prison sentence claimed compensation for damages caused by two other inmates, both Christians, who prevented him from practising his religion. The alleged offenders shouted "Allah and Mohammed are terrorists" and "Islam is a religion of terrorists" while the applicant was praying, gagged him, pulled away his prayer rug, removed the ritual prayer cap from his head, spat on his religious books and… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Supreme Administrative Court (Върховен административен съд) | 2021 | Bulgaria / Supreme Administrative Court / Decision No 7027 of 10 June 2021 on administrative case No 9978/2020 | Religion | Muslims | The case concerns discrimination on the grounds of religion. A Muslim man serving a prison sentence claimed compensation for damages caused by the prison administration's failure to provide him with food in accordance with his religion. On his admission to prison, the applicant informed the administration that he practised Islam and requested that his diet not include pork. The prison administration did not respect the prisoner's wishes, which caused him to experience negative… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Administrative Court - Pazardzhik (Административен съд - Пазарджик) | 2021 | Bulgaria / Administrative Court - Pazardzhik / Decision No 934 of 15 December 2021 on administrative case No 340/2021, ECLI:BG:AD715:2021:20210700340.001 | Religion | Muslims | The case concerns the discrimination of a Muslim prisoner. The applicant, a Muslim serving a prison sentence, had his beard shaved off against his will. The shaving was done for no medical or hygiene reasons, despite the applicant’s verbal refusals, and while he was bound and handcuffed. The applicant claimed that the shaving was an act of discrimination that violated his human dignity and caused him to feel inferior and powerless. Based on the applicant’s complaint, the equality body… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Supreme Administrative Court (Върховен административен съд) | 2020 | Bulgaria / Supreme Administrative Court / Decision No 896 of 21 January 2020 on administrative case No 1934/2019 | Religion | Muslims | The case concerns harassment on the grounds of religion and disability. The defendant was found guilty of verbally and physically attacking one of his employees in the presence of two of their colleagues. The victim, a Muslim man suffering from diabetes, was called ‘scumbag’ ‘nasty Turk’ and ‘dirty Gypsy’, and was hit several times on the head and body. For the facts of the case see Administrative Court of Lovech / Decision No 152 of 5 December 2018 on administrative case No 264/2018 (https://… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Commission for Protection against Discrimination (Комисия за защита от дискриминация) | 2018 | Bulgaria / Commission for Protection against Discrimination / Decision No 170 of 23 April 2018 on case file No 38/2016 | Religion | Muslims | The case concerns harassment on the grounds of religion. The defendant (K.F.) was found guilty of harassment on the grounds of religion for posting online an interactive map showing the ‘invasion of hordes of orcs of Islam in Europe’. The map, based on UNHCR data, was showing the ‘exact number of terrorists’ each European country had received between 2012 and 2015. | View more |
| Bulgaria | Supreme Court of Cassation (Върховен касационен съд) | 2016 | Bulgaria / Supreme Court of Cassation / Decision no. 71 of 28 July 2016 on criminal case no. 123/2016 | Religion | Other religious groups, Muslims | The case is about 13 Muslims charged with incitement to hatred and participation in an organisation preaching antidemocratic ideology (the Salafi movement within Islam). The first and second instance courts on the case, the Pazardzhik District Court (PDC), and the Plovdiv Court of Appeal (PCA) respectively, convicted the defendants. One of them had to serve a prison sentence, two others received suspended sentences and the rest fines. | View more |
| Bulgaria | European Court of Human Rights, ECHR | 2015 | ECtHR / Application no. 30587/13 / Judgement / Karaahmed v. Bulgaria | Religion | Muslims | Members of a far right party held a demonstration against Friday prayer sounds being broadcast from a mosque through loudspeakers. Muslim worshippers were insulted and attacked. Karaahmed, a Muslim, was nearby when this incident took place and argued that he suffered psychological harm as a result of the demonstration. The European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR] found a violation of Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) because the Bulgarian authorities failed to balance the… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Sofia Regional Court (Софийски районен съд) | 2014 | Bulgaria / Sofia Regional Court / Decision of 19 November 2014 on administrative case no. 7631 of 2014 | Nationality | Refugees & asylum seekers | The political party Ataka (Атака) was sanctioned with a fine of BGN 3,000 (approximately €1,500) for inciting intolerance against refugees. The reason for the sanction was a talk show broadcasted on the party’s TV channel Alpha (Алфа), during which the host of the show, at the time also a member of parliament, described refugees as ‘serial killers’, ‘cannibals’ and ‘disgusting, seedy primates’, who had ‘already started stealing, beating’ and would ‘soon start raping and cutting people’s heads… | View more |
| Bulgaria | European Court of Human Rights, ECHR | 2014 | ECtHR / No. 26827/08 / Judgement / Abdu v. Bulgaria | Race/Ethnicity | Migrants | The applicant and one of his friends, both Sudanese nationals, had been involved in a fight with two Bulgarian youths. During the fight the applicant was slightly injured. He alleged that his attackers, two skinheads, had assaulted him on racist grounds. The police conducted an investigation but were unable to ascertain who had started the fight or whether the assault was racially motivated. Their focus though was on establishing the violent acts and not on eventual racial motivation.… | View more |
| Bulgaria | Burgas Regional Court (Бургаски районен съд) | 2014 | Bulgaria / Burgas Regional Court / Decision no. 1429 of 28 July 2014 on administrative penal case no. 2455/2014 | Nationality | Muslims | The court repealed a fine of BGN 3,000 (approximately €1,500), imposed on the TV channel SKAT (СКАТ) for incitement to intolerance against ethnic Turks. The sanction was originally imposed for the broadcasting of a TV show, in which the participants argued that the Turks were planning to conquer Bulgaria and annihilate the Bulgarian population. The host of the show referred to the Turks as a 'barbarian nation', which had conquered Bulgarian lands by 'beheadings, murders and… | View more |
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