Amnesty International on behalf of the Pirin Macedonians
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ, United Kingdom
22 APRIL 1994
Bulgaria: Amnesty International Urges Authorities To Ensure Police Observance Of International Human Rights Standards
Amnesty International is urging the authorities to ensure that police abide by international human rights standards at tomorrow's ethnic Macedonian commemorative assembly, following the violent events which overtook the assembly last year.
The commemorative assembly at Rozhen Monastery is an annual event, traditionally organized by OMO "Ilinden" (United Macedonian Organization "Ilinden") to commemorate the death of Jane Sandanski, a local hero of the struggle against Ott oman rule at the turn of the century.
On 24 April 1993, dozens of ethnic Macedonians, many of them members of OMO "Ilinden", were ill-treated by police officers in Lozenitsa and Spatovo after attempting to visit Rozhen Monastery.
"Special police units beat them with truncheons and rifle butts; they dragged people from their cars and knocked them to the ground", Amnesty International said. "We are concerned that the apparently unprovoked attack by officers of the special police units on the people who gathered in Lozenitsa and Spatovo represented a flagrant violation of international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bulgaria has acceded." ;
Amnesty International is particularly concerned by the reported statement from the Regional Security Service of Blagoevgrad that the police are undertaking "all appropriate measures to surround the area around the Rozhen Monastery on 23 April and to prevent the OMO "Ilinden" assembly from taking place".
Three ethnic Macedonians are already reported to have been detained in Blagoevgrad while peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. On 15 April, Stoyan Machkarov, Khristo Yanev and Lubomir Vasilev were reportedly arrested by members of the Regional Security Service of Blagoevgrad and charged with putting up posters to announce Saturday's assembly. All three were allegedly beaten while in the police station before being released that day.
Amnesty International considers their detention and alleged ill- treatment to be a violation of the ICCPR. As a State Party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Bulgaria is bound to initiate a prompt and impartial investigation wherever there is evidence that torture or other ill- treatment has occurred.
Amnesty International has written to Zhelyu Zhelev, the President of Bulgaria, urging him to initiate an independent and impartial inquiry into the alleged beatings in Blagoevgrad, to make public its findings and to bring to justice anyone responsible for human rights violations. The human rights organization has still not received any reply to its letter of July 1993, to Minister of the Interior, Viktor Mikhaylov, that expressed its concern at the police violence at last year's assembly. The human rights organization called on the Bulgarian Government to initiate an independent and impartial inquiry into the alleged ill- treatment of people in Lozenitsa and Spatovo, to make public its findings and to bring to justice all those found responsible. Amnesty International is not aware whether such an investigation took place.
The human rights organization is urging President Zhelev to ensure that the police in the area of Rozhen Monastery on 23 April abide by relevant international human rights standards including UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
