[WCAR] Justice for Romani Victims of Racial Discrimination in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Courts Continue to Find in Favour of Romani Victims of
Discrimination

Budapest, Sofia, 8 June 2006. Bulgarian courts have continued to implement
Bulgaria's comprehensive anti-discrimination law, issuing in the first six
months of 2006 new positive decisions. These decisions have both developed
Bulgarian anti-discrimination jurisprudence in a number of areas, as well
as provided just satisfaction to Romani victims of racial discrimination.

In a judgment based on Bulgaria's comprehensive anti-discrimination law,
the Plovdiv appeals court has ruled against a company operating a local
discotheque for having denied its services to Romani youth. The court
found the refusal of services to constitute direct discrimination, and
ordered the business to abstain from further repeating such conduct with
regard to Kiril Mitkov, the Roma youth who brought the claim. On 22
January 2004, a group of Romani youth queued in front of the "Florida"
discotheque in downtown Plovdiv along with non-Romani youngsters, wishing
to visit. When Kiril Mitkov and his friends' turn came, the bouncers
stopped them and rudely refused to let them as "no Roma or Turks were
allowed". The non-Romani youngsters entered, while Kiril Mitkov and his
friends stood by.

Kiril Mitkov, then 21, complained of the discrimination suffered to the
Regional Governor's ethnic office, which referred the complaint to
anti-discrimination lawyer, Margarita Ilieva. With ERRC support, Kiril
Mitkov brought legal action against the operating company. It failed at
trial because, while the discriminatory act was established beyond any
reasonable doubt, the judge considered the respondent's liability unclear.  
On appeal, additional evidence secured a favourable ruling. No
compensation was awarded as the claimant sought none, wishing to
underscore the lawsuit was for him a matter of dignity.

In another case, earlier this year, the Sofia City Court found an employer
liable for race discrimination against a Romani job applicant. The
decision is the first positive appeal decision under the
anti-discrimination law. In February 2004, Anguel Assenov, 25, telephoned
a company to inquire after a newspaper job ad for a worker. He was told
there were no requirements other than to be a man not older than 30. Mr
Assenov asked whether he, as a Romani man, was eligible, and the employee
who answered his call stated he need not even apply, as no Roma would be
hired. While these facts were established at trial, the lower court
dismissed Assenov's claim on grounds that the employer was not liable for
the employee's statement as she was not a decision-maker on hiring.

Following an appeal in the case, the City Court declared an employer
liable for discrimination committed by any of its employees regardless of
their position, or decision-making powers. Discrimination committed by an
employee is discrimination committed by the legal entity, the court
stated.  It held discrimination to be a serious breach of constitutional,
international and domestic law, impinging on important pecuniary and
non-pecuniary individual rights. The court declared the equality of all
people and the prohibition of all discrimination to be universal human
values fundamental to the rule of law and to contemporary democratic
society. It stated discrimination was a particularly significant
infringement of the constitutional order, which, the court expressly
stated, had caused Mr. Assenov non-pecuniary damages in excess of his
claim of BGN 600 (approximately EURO 300). The court awarded this claim in
full.  Mr Assenov was represented by antidiscrimination lawyer Margarita
Ilieva, supported by the ERRC.

These two are the most recent of approximately 16 favourable (as compared
to 11 unfavourable) rulings the courts have handed down since the
Protection against Discrimination Act entered into force in Bulgaria in
2004. This emerging case law, which ERRC has supported, has served to
begin transforming the new equality law into an effective protection
instrument.  The Sofia trial court has established important precedents in
some of its rulings. It has found the Prosecutor's Office liable for
anti-Romani statements made in an official magistrate's decree, and has
awarded the victim damages. It has found the Minister of Education liable
for racial segregation for tolerating the existence of an all-Roma school.
It has declared a trade unionist's anti-Roma public speech to constitute
harassment and incitement to discrimination, and has ordered him to
further abstain from it. This court is soon to rule on a high-profile
public interest lawsuit brought by a broad civil coalition against a
xenophobic political leader and MP for his extreme racist and homophobic
statements.

For further information on these cases and related issues, please
contact 
Dimitrina Petrova at +36-1-413-2200 or 
Margarita Ilieva at +359-2-943-4876. 


_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Centre is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal defence
in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the European
Roma Rights Centre, visit the ERRC on the web at http://www.errc.org

European Roma Rights Centre
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax: +36 1 4132201 





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