MINELRES: RFE/RL newsline on minority issues, 23 - 27 February 2004

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 34, Part II, 23 February 2004

WELFARE CUTS PROMPT RIOTING BY SLOVAK ROMA... 
Approximately 200 Roma  looted two food shops in the eastern town of
Trhoviste on 21 February to protest cuts in welfare benefits, CTK
reported. On 20 February, some 50 Roma looted a food shop in Cierna nad
Tisu and rioting also occurred last week in Levoca, Fialakovo, and
Michalovce. Police in the Kosice region have detained some 42 Roma for
their alleged participation in rioting. Social benefits are to be
significantly cut next month, particularly affecting the Romany
community that is hard hit by unemployment, while the costs of rent and
utilities have risen significantly, TASR reported on 19 February.
Ladislav Fizik, chairman of the Romany Parliament organization, on 21
February announced a "strike alert" for "all Slovak citizens depending
on social aid," according to CTK. He also called on members of the
Romany minority in all towns and villages to assemble for peaceful
protests on 25 February. As part of the protest, Roma are being asked
not to send their children to school on 25 February. "We don't want to
rob and steal," Fizik said. "We only want work." MS

....AS AUTHORITIES SUSPECT MANIPULATION. 
A spokesman for the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry said the looting
of shops is not a sign of the Romany community's desperation, but an
organized action prompted by Romany money lenders who "will lose the
source of their illegal incomes with the lowering of social benefits" as
of 1 March, CTK reported. MS

ETHNIC HUNGARIANS IN ROMANIA CALL FOR REHABILITATION OF NATIONALIST
POET. 
Hundreds of ethnic Hungarians in Romania gathered on 22 February in
different Transylvanian towns, calling for the rehabilitation of
nationalist poet Albert Wass, AP reported. Wass was sentenced to death
in absentia in 1946 for inciting the killing of Jews and ethnic
Romanians during World War II. He fled to Germany and later emigrated to
the United States, where he committed suicide in 1988 at the age of 90.
In 1978, the United States refused to extradite him to Romania on the
grounds that there was insufficient evidence to implicate him in the
killings. Similar commemoration ceremonies, at which participants read
from Wass's works, were held in Hungary the same day. The Romanian
authorities are demanding that a bust erected in a church courtyard in
Wass's memory be dismantled on the basis of a 2002 ordinance that
prohibits the erection of memorials or the naming of streets in honor of
war criminals. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 35, Part I, 24 February 2004

CHECHEN LEADERS MARK DEPORTATION ANNIVERSARY. Pro-Moscow Chechen
administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov told Interfax on 23 February
that the deportation 60 years earlier on the orders of Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin of the Chechen people to Kazakhstan and Central
Asia was part of a plan to exterminate the entire Chechen people, and
was comparable to the Holocaust or the Armenian genocide. He
complained that Soviet-era and post-Soviet legislation on the
rehabilitation of the Chechens and other ethnic groups that were
summarily deported is not being applied in Chechnya. Also on 23
February, Maskhadov, who was elected Chechen president in 1997 in a
ballot recognized by Russia and the international community as free
and fair, said that the brutality with which the 1944 deportation was
carried out has been exceeded only by the cruelty of the Russian
military in Chechnya over the past decade, according to
chechenpress.com. Both Kadyrov and Maskhadov were born in Kazakhstan
of parents who survived the deportation. LF

KARABAKH PARLIAMENT REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO INDEPENDENCE. In a
statement adopted on 20 February, the parliament of the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reaffirmed the "resolve of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh to build an independent and democratic state," a
correspondent in Stepanakert for RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported.
The statement urged Armenians around the world to close ranks for the
sake of "a just and final solution" of the Karabakh conflict. On 20
February 1988, the oblast soviet of the then-Nagorno-Karabakh
Autonomous Oblast first formally appealed to the USSR Supreme Soviet
to transfer the oblast from Azerbaijani to Armenian jurisdiction. LF

NGO SWITCHES TO KYRGYZ. The Kyrgyz NGO coalition For Democracy and
Civil Society has issued a press release announcing that its
correspondence with state authorities and agencies will be conducted
in the state language -- Kyrgyz -- in the future, centrasia.ru
reported on 23 February. The regular working language of the NGO will
remain Russian. The recently adopted law on Kyrgyzstan's state
language does not apply directly to NGOs, in the view of coalition
leader Edil Baisalov, but using the state language is a gesture of
respect. Other NGOs and noncommercial organizations have expressed
interest in the coalition's initiative. BB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 35, Part II, 24 February 2004 

SLOVAK ROMA CONTINUE CIVIL UNREST... Looting and rioting that broke
out in eastern Slovakia last week continued as substantial welfare
cuts loom, CTK and TASR reported on 23 February (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 23 February 2003). A grocery store clerk was injured in
Rimavska Sobota on 23 February when she attempted to prevent a group
of 20 Roma from looting the store, the news agencies reported. Police
arrived at the scene and detained several suspects. Meanwhile, in the
evening of 23 February several hundred Roma clashed with police in
Trebisov, some 50 kilometers from the eastern Slovak town of Kosice,
after police tried to disperse an illegal demonstration, CTK
reported. Two policemen suffered minor injuries when the
demonstrators threw rocks and empty bottles at police. However, a
local Rom denied that the group was demonstrating, saying the Roma
were preparing to loot a shop. Police took a number of Roma into
custody. Slovak Romany Council Chairman Frantisek Gulas laid blame
for the clashes in Trebisov on Romany Parliament head Ladislav Fizik,
who recently called for demonstrations to protest welfare cuts (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 23 February 2004). MS

....AS SLOVAK PRESIDENT HOLDS MEETING TO ADDRESS SITUATION...
President Rudolf Schuster met on 23 February with Labor Minister
Ludovit Kanik and Interior Minister Vladimir Palko to discuss the
recent civil unrest. Presidential spokesman Jan Fule said after the
meeting that Schuster believes the government was late in announcing
compensation it intends to grant those whose benefits will be cut.
Schuster also complained that the Interior Ministry has no adequate
and timely information about the unrest, TASR reported. Both
ministers denied the president's accusations, saying the unrest is
mainly due to Romany moneylenders who fear losing income. Kanik said
there is plenty of work for Roma under social programs specially
designed by the cabinet. MS

....AND SLOVAK POLITICIANS WARN OF POSSIBLE ANTI-ROMANY REACTION.
Opposition "Smer" (Direction) party leader Robert Fico, who has long
advocated cutting social benefits for Roma, said on 23 February that
if looting continues some Slovaks might take justice into their own
hands and form militias, CTK reported. Economy Minister Pavol Rusko,
who is chairman of junior coalition Alliance for a New Citizen (ANO)
warned that "every extremism provokes extremism in response," adding
that the neighboring Czech Republic is not the only country where
"extremists act with baseball bats in their hand." Meanwhile, the
Romani Civic Initiative (ROI) on 23 February appealed to members of
the Romany minority to stop looting shops and distanced itself from
Romany leaders who say such acts are justified, TASR reported. MS

MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS PCM WILL NOT 'TOLERATE RESURRECTION OF
FASCISM, XENOPHOBIA.' President Vladimir Voronin told a forum of
Moldovan officers on 23 February that "as long as the Party of
Moldovan Communists (PCM) is in power, the country's leadership will
not tolerate the resurrection of fascist ideas or manifestations of
xenophobia," Infotag reported. Voronin's comments came during a
meeting marking the 86th anniversary of the formation of the Soviet
Army. The day, known as Red Army Day during the Soviet era, ceased to
be an official holiday in Moldova in 1991, and is usually celebrated
only by World War II veterans. In his address to the Moldovan
officers, Voronin noted that country will celebrate another important
date in 2004 -- the 60th anniversary of Moldova's liberation from
"Nazi occupation." Voronin's words were apparently directed toward
the pro-Romanian opposition Popular Party Christian Democratic
(PPCD). Meanwhile, parliamentary speaker Evgenia Ostapchuk said in
Moscow on 23 February that the Moldovan leadership resolutely
disassociates itself from the anti-Russian "impertinence of the
opposition." Her comments came in response to Federation Council
Chairman Sergei Mironov, who expressed concern over anti-Russian
demonstrations organized by the PPCD in front of the Russian Embassy
in Chisinau in late 2003 and early 2004. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 36, Part I, 25 February 2004

PARLIAMENTARY LEADER VOWS TO DEFEND RUSSIAN SPEAKERS IN BALTIC STATES.
Irish Ambassador to Russia Harman was asked in an interview with Ekho
Moskvy on 24 February whether the meeting of European Union foreign
ministers in Brussels the previous day had touched on the issue of
Russian speakers in Estonia and Latvia, which are among the 10 countries
scheduled to join the EU on 1 May. The EU is aware of Russian concern
about Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states, Harman said. The
EU's position is that the human rights situation in the Baltic states
meets the EU's "fundamental criteria," he said, adding that "we
recognize that there are always improvements that can be made."
Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov said he is convinced that
Russia and the EU jointly "must resolve the issue of the status of
Russians living on the territory of the Baltic states," Interfax
reported on 24 February. "Russia has the right to and must insist that
our compatriots enjoy the same rights as citizens of Latvia and
Estonia," Mironov said. JB

ANOTHER AFRICAN STUDENT KILLED IN VORONEZH, SKINHEADS SUSPECTED. A
24-year old medical student from Africa named Amaro Lima was found in
Voronezh on the evening of 21 February with multiple knife wounds in
the chest, Regnum reported on 24 February. He later died in a local
hospital. According to an unidentified representative of the African
Students Community, seven African students have been killed in
Voronezh over the last seven years. The representative said that
Russian students have helped foreign students and that the university
has created a voluntary brigade for the protection of foreigners, but
he added that local police never come when called if skinheads are
involved (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June 2002). According to
gazeta.ru, more than 100 foreign students at the Voronezh State
Medical Academy staged a protest on 24 February against such police
inaction and demanded a meeting with the mayor. The students are
threatening to leave the university en masse if something isn't done.
They also appealed to President Putin to intervene. The students say
Lima was killed by skinheads, but the local prosecutor declined to
confirm this. JAC

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF KHODJALY KILLINGS. Ilham
Aliyev released a statement on 24 February pegged to the12th
anniversary of the killing by Armenian and Soviet army troops of more
than 600 residents of the Azerbaijani-populated village of Khodjaly
in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turan reported. Aliyev characterized those
killings as "one of the most horrible crimes against humanity," and
as the continuation of a policy of "ethnic cleansing and genocide"
directed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis over almost two centuries.
Aliyev pledged that the Azerbaijani leadership will continue its
efforts to secure a "fair" solution to the conflict. LF


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 36, Part II, 25 February 2004

WRITERS PROTEST DEMISE OF BELARUSIAN-LANGUAGE CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE.
Forty well-known Belarusian writers have signed an open letter to
Information Minister Uladzimir Rusakevich protesting the upcoming
closure of "Byarozka," the country's last children's magazine
published in the Belarusian language, Belapan reported on 25
February. The magazine first appeared in 1924 and has published the
works of many popular writers. The Information Ministry ordered the
magazine's publishing rights to be transferred to a different
publisher on 14 January and "Byarozka's" editor in chief, Uladzimir
Yahowdzik, was sacked one month earlier. The seven remaining staff
members will be laid off on 1 April, said Deputy Editor in Chief
Uladzimir Maroz. PB

SLOVAK TROOPS, POLICE DEPLOYED TO QUELL ROMANY UNREST... The
government on 24 February deployed some 1,000 troops to help police
maintain order in the face of continued civil unrest among Slovakia's
Romany minority, CTK reported. Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda told
journalists in Kosice in the evening of 24 February that a combined
force of 2,100 police officers and soldiers have been deployed in
eastern Slovakia, and that some 70 looters and rioters have been
taken into police custody. He said he traveled to Kosice to thank
police officers for fulfilling their duties, and added that no crime
will go unpunished. Dzurinda added that additional information has
confirmed that the civil unrest among the Romany minority has largely
been spurred by money lenders who fear they will lose income after
welfare cuts are enacted on 1 March. MS

....AS PRESIDENT BLAMES GOVERNMENT. Rioting and looting continued in
eastern Slovakia on 24 February, TASR and CTK reported. In Trebisov,
where rioting broke out the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24
February 2003), Roma threw stones at police to protest alleged police
brutality. Meanwhile, a grocery store was reportedly looted in the
eastern Slovak village of Caklov. President Rudolf Schuster said
earlier the same day that the government is to blame for the outbreak
of civil unrest, and warned that its social policies could spur
further action by those affected by "the growth of poverty [and] the
radically worsened social situation of the unemployed, families with
[numerous] children, and pensioners," CTK reported. Premier Dzurinda
dismissed the criticism during his press conference in Kosice.
Earlier, a spokesman for Dzurinda accused President Schuster of
"seeking to provoke confrontation" as part of his "presidential
campaign," according to TASR. Meanwhile, Ladislav Fizik, chairman of
Romany Parliament, rescinded his calls for those who stand to be
affected by impending welfare cuts to demonstrate on 25 February. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 37, Part I, 26 February 2004

OIL-RICH REGIONS CONTEMPLATE MERGER. Tyumen Oblast Governor Sergei
Sobyanin and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor Yurii Neelov
have announced the beginning of the process of merging their two
regions, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 25 February. In the near
term, the two leaders plan to form a commission that will present to
federal and regional authorities a plan for the merger with its
stages and time frame delineated. According to the daily, authorities
in Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous Okrug -- which is also a constituent
part of Tyumen Oblast and like Yamalo-Nenets has the status of a
separate federation subject -- have so far declined to comment on the
governors' joint declaration. JAC


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 37, Part II, 26 February 2004

OSCE COMMISSIONER CALLS FOR MORE DIALOGUE ON LATVIAN EDUCATION
REFORM. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus told Latvian
Education and Research Minister Karlis Sadurskis in Riga on 25
February that constructive dialogue is needed to allay concerns among
Latvia's Russian-speaking youth regarding the country's ongoing
education reform, BNS reported. Ekeus said the aim of his visit was
not to judge the reform, but familiarize himself with the situation.
He said the observations he and his team make will be included in a
future report about the status of minority languages in EU member
states. Sadurskis claimed the campaign against the education reform
is being financed "from Moscow." Ekeus met the same day with Justice
Minister and acting Society Integration Affairs Minister Aivars
Aksenoks to discuss integration issues, and was scheduled to meet
with President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Naturalization Board head
Eizenija Aldermane on 26 February. SG

SLOVAK GOVERNMENT INCREASES COMMUNITY-SERVICE WAGES IN ATTEMPT TO
CALM ROMANY UNREST... The cabinet decided on 25 February to increase
community-service wages and funding for some social programs to
soften the impact of impending welfare cuts that have prompted
rioting and looting by members of Slovakia's Romany minority, CTK and
TASR reported. While refusing to rescind the cuts, the cabinet
decided to increase wages paid for 10 hours of community service a
week from 1,000 crowns ($31.24) to 1,500 crowns. Labor and Social
Affairs Minister Ludovit Kanik, who announced the measures, said the
bonus is intended to encourage those who rely solely on welfare to
return to the workforce. He said some 30,000 people working for
municipalities, churches, and in the health sector will benefit from
the wage hike as of April. The cabinet also decided that funding will
be increased for some social programs involving needy children, and
job training for school dropouts and long-unemployed people. MS

ROMA DEMONSTRATE PEACEFULLY IN BOTH EASTERN AND WESTERN SLOVAKIA...
Thousands of Roma demonstrated peacefully on 25 February in eastern
and western Slovakia, international news agencies reported. No new
reports of rioting or looting have been reported since the afternoon
of 24 February, according to CTK and TASR on 26 February.
Demonstrators carried banners expressing their willingness to work.
Interior Minister Vladimir Palko said police have thus far charged 95
Roma with looting during the recent civil unrest. MS

....AS THEIR ISSUES ARE ADDRESSED IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. Austrian
People's Party Europarliamentarian Marialiese Flemming told a session
of that forum on 25 February that the Slovak Roma are forced to raid
stores to avoid starvation, TASR and CTK reported. She asked
Europarliament President Patrick Cox to urgently collect information
on the situation of Slovakia's Romany minority and to ensure that
clarification of the situation is placed on the forum's priorities
agenda. Austrian Socialist Party deputy Hannes Swoboda told the house
that after Bulgaria and Romania accede to the EU in 2007 the union
will have a population of 8 million Roma, and it is justifiable to
question whether the EU can afford to support the poverty-stricken
minority. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 38, Part I, 27 February 2004

KREMLIN OFFICIAL BACKS REFERENDUM ON MERGING TWO MORE REGIONS. Deputy
presidential administration head Vladislav Surkov has proposed
holding a referendum in late 2004 on merging Irkutsk Oblast with
Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 26
February, citing Irkutsk Legislative Assembly Speaker Gennadii
Istomin. Surkov met with the executive and legislative leaders of
both regions on 24 February. If the referendum passes, the merger
would take place in late 2005, Istomin said. Residents of Perm Oblast
and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug recently approved similar merger
referendums, and that merger is likely to move ahead rapidly (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 23 February 2004). Likewise, the governors of
Tyumen Oblast and of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced this
week that they are beginning work on merging their regions (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 26 February 2004). LB

TATARSTAN'S LEGISLATURE CHALLENGES CYRILLIC-ONLY LAW. The Tatar State
Council on 26 February appealed to the federal Constitutional Court
to review the federal law on languages of the peoples of the Russian
Federation, RIA-Novosti reported. The legislators are challenging a
provision in the law requiring that state languages of Russian
Federation republics use Cyrillic-based alphabets. Their inquiry
argues that republics have the constitutional right to adopt their
own state languages and notes that the Tatar language used the Latin
alphabet in the 1920s and 1930s. The State Duma and the Federation
Council mandated the use of Cyrillic in amendments to the law on
languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation that were passed
in late 2002 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 and 27 November 2002). LB

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES ABKHAZ OF ETHNIC CLEANSING... Addressing
the UN Security Council on 26 February, President Mikheil Saakashvili
accused the authorities of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia of
pursuing a policy of deliberate ethnic cleansing, RFE/RL's UN
correspondent reported. Saakashvili alleged that "we are talking
about a situation in which just being ethnically Georgian
automatically means being killed if you enter that territory."
Members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia say, however, that
thousands of ethnic Georgians who fled Abkhazia's southernmost Gali
Raion during the 1992-93 war have returned and live permanently or
semi-permanently in their old homes. The International Criminal Court
in The Hague last year rejected a demand by the Tbilisi-based Abkhaz
government in exile to bring formal charges of genocide and ethnic
cleansing against the Abkhaz authorities, according to Caucasus Press
on 27 November. LF


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 38, Part II, 27 February 2004

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES RUSSIA TO SIGN BORDER TREATIES WITH
ESTONIA, LATVIA. The European Parliament on 26 February passed a
recommendation to the EU's Council of Ministers that lists a number
of issues that Russia should resolve to facilitate good-neighborly
relations, BNS reported. The recommendation is expected to be taken
into consideration in March, when the EU summit discusses future
relations between the EU and Russia. "Russia must understand that the
EU no longer intends to take part in any negotiations over signing
and ratifying the border treaty with Latvia and Estonia,"
Europarliamentarian Bastian Belder (the Netherlands) said. "The
negotiation stage is over and Russia should act as a respectful
partner and immediately approve the mentioned treaties." Belder also
said that "I believe that Latvia and Estonia have implemented all the
Copenhagen criteria, including protection of minorities." The
recommendation called on Russia to accept extending the EU-Russian
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement when the 10 acceding states
join the union on 1 May. SG

SUDETEN GERMANS LEADER ASKS CZECH PRESIDENT TO VETO BILL. Bernd
Posselt, leader of the Sudeten Deutsche Landsmannschaft and a member
of the European Parliament, appealed on 26 February to Czech
President Vaclav Klaus to veto a one-line bill approved two days
earlier by the lower house that praises the role played by former
Czechoslovakian President Eduard Benes and his contribution to
Czechoslovak statehood, CTK reported. In a statement to CTK, Posselt
called the bill "a slap in the face to millions of victims, because
Benes was responsible not only for stripping millions of Sudeten
Germans and Hungarians of their rights and for their deportation
[under the 1946 Benes Decrees], but he also brought Czechs and
Slovaks under decades-long Soviet domination." He said approving the
bill was a poor way to begin Czech membership of the EU. MS

EUROPEAN ROMANY ORGANIZATION SAYS SLOVAKIA DOES NOT MEET EU CRITERIA.
The Hamburg-based Roma National Congress (RNC), an umbrella
organization of Romany rights groups, said on 26 February that
Slovakia "does not meet the criteria for joining the EU," CTK
reported. RNC Chairman Rudek Kawczynski said in the statement that
following EU accession on 1 May, "an exodus of millions of Roma" to
Western Europe can be expected. Kawczynski said the EU has only
itself to blame for this situation, because it did not make the
improvement of Roma's living conditions in Eastern Europe a condition
for admitting new members. The statement says a meeting between RNC
Czech and Slovak representatives with Enlargement Commissioner
Guenter Verheugen last April earmarked special funds for projects
aimed at aiding Roma, but those funds have since disappeared without
a trace or results. "The current situation is a consequence of
negligence by both Slovak authorities and the European Commission,"
the statement said. According to the Slovak TA3 television channel,
representatives of the RNC -- possibly Kawczynski himself -- intend
to visit Slovakia soon. MS

SZEKLER REGIONAL-AUTONOMY PLAN SUBMITTED TO ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT. Four
Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) deputies in the
lower house of parliament officially submitted on 26 February a
controversial draft law to the chamber's Bureau that would grant
regional autonomy to the territories historically inhabited by the
Szeklers -- a group within the country's Hungarian minority --
Mediafax reported. The draft was approved on 17 January by the
Szekler National Council (SZNT in Hungarian, CNS in Romanian). It
covers an area of some 10,000 square kilometers with 809,000
inhabitants in the current counties of Covasna, Harghita, and Mures
-- although it leaves out areas in Covasna and Mures with an ethnic
Romanian majority. The UDMR distanced itself from the plan, saying
the project has been submitted "at the wrong time and in the wrong
formulation" and would "distance us from autonomy rather than bring
us closer to it." According to the UDMR statement, the draft runs the
risk of "carrying water to the mills of [ethnic] Romanian extremists"
and mobilizing them ahead of the June local elections. MS

BULGARIA LOSES YET ANOTHER CASE AT EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights issued a press
release on 26 February announcing that it has found the Bulgarian
state guilty of a number of violations of the European Convention on
Human Rights in connection with the deaths of two conscripts of
Romany origin. Military police officers shot the two men while
attempting to arrest them on charges of theft in 1996. The court
unanimously ruled that the Bulgarian state violated Article 2 of the
convention pertaining to the right to life and also failed to
investigate the deaths satisfactorily. The court also ruled that the
Bulgarian authorities failed to investigate "whether discriminatory
attitudes played a role in the shootings." The court awarded the
relatives of one victim $27,500 and the other $31,500 in damages. UB