Macedonian-based party declared unconstitutional in Bulgaria
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 09:22:49 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Macedonian-based party declared unconstitutional in Bulgaria
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee <[email protected]>
Macedonian-based party declared unconstitutional in Bulgaria
-----------
>From the moderator: This statement was posted also by the BalkanHR
mailing list. Cross-posted due to importance of the issue. We
apologize to those who received this twice.
Boris
-----------
Declaring a Macedonian-based Party
Unconstitutional,
Bulgarian Constitutional Court Violates Basic
Political Rights
Statement by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia, and
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
1 March 2000. - On 29 February 2000, the Constitutional Court in
Bulgaria declared a Macedonian-based political party, OMO "Ilinden" -
PIRIN, unconstitutional, in violation of the right to freedom of
association and the right to freedom from discrimination. This
decision could lead to an effective ban of the party, deprivation of
its juridical person status, confiscation of its property and the
impossibility to take part in elections.
The Constitutional Court was petitioned a year ago by a group of MPs,
mainly from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (ex-communists) plus several
non-communist nationalistic MPs. The petition asked the court to
declare the party unconstitutional, alleging a threat to the national
security of Bulgaria. Subsequently the cabinet and several government
ministries supported the petition. OMO "Ilinden" - PIRIN was
registered as a political party in 1999 and took part in the municipal
elections in October 1999, when it elected five local officials. It
was registered as an all-Bulgarian political party, as the Bulgarian
constitution prohibits formation of political parties along ethnic and
religious lines. Nevertheless it drew its support mainly from ethnic
Macedonians (more than 10 800 people according to the 1992 census).
The government of Bulgaria had never recognized Macedonian identity
and undertook a variety of repressive measures to suppress its free
expression both before and after the fall of communism. A number of
human rights organizations, both in Bulgaria and abroad, expressed
concerns that the motives of the Constitutional Court in the present
case were that the party is a threat to the national security of
Bulgaria because some of its members in the past had separatist
statements. The party itself never made any separatist statement; it
declared in the beginning that it would respect the constitutional and
legal system of Bulgaria and carry out its political activities
peacefully.
The decision of the Constitutional Court in fact revives communist-era
theories that not only the actions but also the thoughts and the
statements of political groups and leaders could be subject to
scrutiny and repression. It is also discriminatory as there are a
number of monarchist political parties in the Republic of Bulgaria
that have expressly anti-constitutional views and yet operate freely
and routinely take part in elections. As such, the decision violates a
number of basic human rights principles.
For more information:
Krassimir Kanev, Chair, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee: +359-2-951 62 89
Meto Jovanovski, Chair, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of
Macedonia: +389-91-206 244
Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director: +43-1-408 8822 or +43-676-635
6612
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================