Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 13:15:56 +0200 From: ilga Subject: BULGARIA URGENT ACTION >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- >--- URGENT ACTION ---July 25, 1996 >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- > >ANTI-GAY ATTACKS IN BULGARIA: >MASS PUBLIC ARRESTS & BAR RAID > >On the morning of July 9, 1996, the offices of the Flamingo Center >were vandalized by police forces from the III-Th. district police station >of Sofia, Bulgaria. The Flamingo Center, a publisher of gay and >lesbian erotic magazines, was founded in 1990 and officially registered >as a Bulgarian trade company in 1994. This raid comes at a time of >growing harassment against gay and lesbian activists and organizations. >It is reported that the attack was preceded by illegal searches of the >center by plain clothes police officers who concealed their identification >cards and refused to disclose their identities when asked to do so by the >staff. The officers responded instead with threats and brutality, hand- >cuffing one of the staffers and later coercing him to alter his written >report of the incident. According to reports, uniformed police officers >were then deployed to the Tzar Simeon Street offices of the center, >where they broke in and confiscated all printed materials including >business and financial documentation, correspondence, and the >organizational database containing files on its 2,000 members. Office >equipment, assorted merchandise and promotional materials were also >confiscated, including computers, printers, video cassette recorders, >video tapes and photographs. > >The police officers then barricaded the center and arrested three of its >employees. It is reported that three clients who were present in the >center at the time of the attack managed to flee and thus avoided arrest. >On arrival at the III-Th. police station, the detained employees were met >with TV crews from Channel One and Two of Bulgarian national >television, and the private Nova TV Channel. The image of the first >detainee removed from the police wagon was broadcast on the Central >Evening News of all Bulgarian TV channels and published in local >newspapers, accompanied by denigrating and defamatory commentary. >All three arrested Flamingo Center employees were released after being >held at the station for 10 hours. > >As part of this recent growing wave of anti-gay harassment in Bulgaria, >it is reported that on July 9 police forces also raided Comet, an erotic- >video center on Vesletz Street in Sofia and seized all their video tapes. >The national newspaper 24 Hours also reports that on July 11 police >forces executed mass arrests of gay men including foreign visitors at a >gay beach near the town of Varna. It is further reported that on July 13 >police officers raided At Kayo, a private gay club on Yuri Venelin Street >in Sofia, resulting in a reduction in its hours of operation. The national >Standart and Trud newspapers have also reported the kidnapping of a >gay activist a month ago in the port town of Rouse. > >While the scope and severity of these raids is unprecedented in Bulgaria, >anti-gay sentiment is not. In the summer of 1995, the Bulgarian >General Attorney Mr. Ivan Tatartchev prevented the broadcast of a >commercial prepared for a national television station, stating that it >contained "homosexual elements which endangered the national >morality." The current police campaign of terror against gays and >lesbians comes in the wake of a drastic increase in organized crime and >an increasingly fragile police structure. This has resulted in the >unofficial state policy of inciting confrontations between ethnic and >social groups with the aim of deflecting public opinion from the >pressing national crises of the floundering bank system, the ballooning >inflation rate and the inaccessibility of such basic foodstuffs as bread. > >Bulgarian authorities have attempted to justify the attack on the >Flamingo Center as necessary for the "prevention of moral >degradation." State legislation, however, stands in direct contradiction >to this defense. As a legally registered publisher of gay and lesbian >erotic magazines, the Flamingo Center is in compliance with Bulgarian >laws including a 70% state excise tax on erotic materials and >"pornography" instituted in 1995. > >The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission >(IGLHRC) is deeply concerned by these pre-meditated and strategic acts >of state sanctioned police brutality against the Bulgarian gay movement. >These recent acts are in violation of the Bulgarian Constitution and >numerous international covenants ratified by the state of Bulgaria. We >are further deeply concerned about the well-being of Angel Bliznatchki, >the only visible Bulgarian gay activist recognized by the authorities. We >are calling on Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev to ensure that no more >raids are carried out, and that steps be taken to thoroughly investigate >those who authorized and participated in them, including Lieutenant- >Colonel Sharankov and Examining-Magistrate Valentin Marinov of the >III-Th. district police station of Sofia. > >IGLHRC and the Flamingo Center are requesting that urgent letters of >protest be sent to: > >Mr. Zhelyu Zhelev >President >Republic of Bulgaria >1 Dondukov Street >Sofia, Bulgaria > >Mr. Zhan Videnov >Prime Minister >Republic of Bulgaria >2 Dondukov Street >Sofia, Bulgaria > >Mr. Blagovest Sendov >Chairman, National Assembly >Republic of Bulgaria >2 Narodno Sabranie Square >Sofia, Bulgaria > >Mr. Ivan Tatarchev >General Attorney >Republic of Bulgaria >2 Alabin Street >Sofia, Bulgaria > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- >For more information contact Kagendo Murungi, Program Associate >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- >************************************************************ >INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN >HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION > >1360 Mission Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, California 94103 USA >Tel. +1-415-255-8680 Fax +1-415-255-8662 >email: iglhrc@igc.apc.org > >*********************************************************** > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ILGA - International Lesbian and Gay Association 81 Kolenmarkt, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Phone/Fax +32-2-502-2471, E-mail: ilga@ilga.org A federation of over 300 groups from 75 countries fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 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