Bulgaria: State telecommunications commission turns down first Bulgarian Christian radio station's application for license

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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 11:50:10 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Bulgaria: State telecommunications commission turns down first Bulgarian Christian radio station's application for license

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Emil Cohen <[email protected]>

Bulgaria: State telecommunications commission turns down first
Bulgarian Christian radio station's application for license


TOLERANCE FOUNDATION*

PRESS RELEASE

SOFIA, DECEMBER 12, 2000

BULGARIA: STATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TURNS DOWN FIRST
BULGARIAN CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION�S APPLICATION FOR LICENSE

On November 2, 2000, the State Telecommunications Commission refused
to give a license to the first religious radio station in Bulgaria.

Earlier this year, Voice Hope Ltd., a company especially created to
broadcast a radio program with Christian contents, applied for a
license before the National Radio and Television Council (NRTC). The
company was founded by well known among the Protestants in Bulgaria
activists and clergymen. The main organizers of the company belong to
the United Church of God. (The procedure for receiving a license for
activities in the sphere of telecommunications involves two stages. In
the first place, applicants have to receive the so called �program
license� from the NRTC. And secondly, applicants have to receive a
second license from the National Telecommunications Council. According
to the provisions of the Radio and Television Act, if the National
Radio and Television Council turns down the application, the State
Telecom-munications Commission is obliged to give up the final license
to the applicant.)

According to a communique from the State Telecommunications Commission
from November 6, 2000, on October 2, 2000 the National Radio and
Television Council turned down the licensing application of Voice Hope
Ltd. The reasons for the refusal are that the design of the creators
of the Voice Hope Radio do not fully correspond to the criteria of the
National Radio and Television Council in three points and correspond
only partially in five points. For example, the Council points out
that Voice Hope Ltd. does not correspond to the NRTC requirements of
having �cultural and educational functions�. This is manifestly
absurd, since the radio�s program design makes it evident that
education in the values of Christianity is one of its main priorities.

There is information that the real reasons behind the NRTC�s negative
decision were considerations that a Protestant radio station could be
launched only after the establishment of an Orthodox station. Although
there is no Orthodox radio station in the country presently, many
radio and television broadcasts with Orthodox trends function both in
the public and in the private radio and television stations. At the
same time, there are no broadcasts with Protestant or Islamic trends,
at least as far as the radio and television stations with national
coverage are concerned.

The prescribed term in which the NRTC had to supply a copy of its
transcripts to Voice Hope Ltd. in answer to their inquiry expired on
December 4, 2000. In this way the people from Voice Hope Ltd. could
understand the real course of the discussion during the meeting of the
NRTC. Unfortunately, the Council refused to carry out its obligation
to supply a copy of the transcript of the October 2, 2000 meeting,
irrespective of the provisions of the Access to Public Information
Act. This refusal reinforces doubts that the real reason behind the
Council�s negative decision is unwillingness to permit the existence
of a radio station with a non-Orthodox trend.

Tolerance Foundation expresses its opinion that the refusal of the
National Radio and Television Council to give a license to the Voice
Hope Radio is a grave violation of the religious human rights of the
citizens, as well as of the right to freely express their opinions,
beliefs and convictions. Both rights are guaranteed by the
Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (Art. 37 and Art. 41), the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 18 and Art.
19) and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (Art. 9 and Art. 10). The ICCPR and the European
Convention on Human Rights are in force for Bulgaria since 1976 and
1992 respectively.

Tolerance Foundation will offer Voice Hope Ltd. every possible legal
help. The company has submitted a complaint before the Supreme
Administrative Court against the decision of the State
Telecommunications Commission.

Most probably on next Monday, December 18, Voice Hope Ltd. and
Tolerance Foundation will organize a press conference in order to
inform the public about this grave violation of the religious human
rights of the Bulgarian citizens.

On behalf of Tolerance Foundation:

Emil Cohen, President

*The TOLERANCE FOUNDATION is a human rights group monitoring the
freedom of conscience and the religious freedom practices in Bulgaria,
providing legal assistance to victims of discrimination based on
religion, as well as propagating the idea of tolerance towards
religious and other convictions.

The group was founded in 1994. Mr. Emil Cohen is President of the
Tolerance Foundation.

Address: 1000 Sofia, 163A �Rakovsky� St., phone/fax: (+359 2) 981 23
57;

Phone: (+359 2) 988 31 36
E-mail: [email protected]


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