Demand to end of unrest in Bulgaria

This is a copy of a letter sent today. It is provided by the Roma Virtual Network.



October 2, 2011


APPEAL

By Civil Society in Action

REGARDING THE CURRENT CRISIS SITUATION IN BULGARIA


Dear OSCE Members and Officials,

Presidential and Municipal Elections are coming in Bulgaria. We know that OSCE has sent a limited election observation mission in our country last month.

The first-round of the elections will take place on the 23rd of October 2011. During the last week ethnic tension grew in Bulgaria. The society was divided on ethnic line due to a criminal case. A Bulgarian Roma has been accused of the murder of an ethnic Bulgarian in a car accident in the village of Katounitsa.

For four days, the conflict went out of Katounitsa and spread around the country. Soccer fans, villains, Neo-Nazi groups and political parties organized rallies against Roma neighbourhoods in the largest cities of Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian President called the National Council on National Security on the 1st of October concerning “Actual problems of the internal security: urgent measures to secure law and order and prevent ethnic tension”. Bulgarian Prosecutor General Boris Velchev issued an instruction urging the prosecutors in Bulgaria to treat signals of ethnic violence with special attention.

The developments in Bulgaria, with cases of physical violence against Roma, and the media reports promoting hate speech, produced a situation in which the society lives in fear and uncertainty. Bulgarians are afraid of Roma and Roma are afraid of Bulgarians.

All this is happening three weeks before the elections. The situation has developed rapidly, and due to the growing ethnic tension,

We call upon the OSCE to send an Extended mission of observers in Republic of Bulgaria and guarantee:

1. We will have free elections and all people regardless of origin and ethnicity will be able to exercise their free right of voting.
2. OSCE, by observing the elections will diminish the chances of buying votes in vulnerable groups.
3. With its very presence OCSE extended electoral mission will contribute to overcome the crisis situation.
4. We insist OSCE to send Roma people from other countries, along with Non-Roma observers in the mission to Bulgaria.

By doing so, the OSCE will help the Bulgarian authorities guarantee fair elections.

We apply the letters sent to the EU Commission and to the Bulgarian President.

Kind Regards,

Orhan Tahir, Lawyer
Asen Radev, Political analyst, a former OSCE STO in missions in Ukraine, Albania and Moldova

For contact:

Orhan Tahir
Civil Society in Action