(This report covers the period January-December 1997) A conscientious objector to military service was imprisoned; he was a prisoner of conscience. There were widespread reports of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials; many of the victims were Roma. At least five people reportedly died as a result of torture or ill-treatment. Shootings by police officers in disputed circumstances resulted in at least nine deaths. At least four people were sentenced to death. No executions were carried out. Following the December 1996 resignation of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, a member of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party, demonstrations calling for early parliamentary elections were held in January throughout the country. A demonstration in front of the National Assembly in Sofia on 10 January ended late at night with a massive police intervention. Nearly 300 people were injured as a result of ill-treatment by police. President Petar Stoyanov, who was inaugurated on 19 January, played a crucial role in preventing further violent clashes and in facilitating political negotiations between the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the opposition. An early election organized in April brought to power the Union of Democratic Forces, whose leader, Ivan Kostov, was appointed Prime Minister in May. In March the government authorized publication of the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on its visit to places of detention in March and April 1995. The Committee concluded that detained criminal suspects "run a significant risk of being ill-treated at the time of their apprehension and/or while in police custody, and that on occasion resort may be had to severe ill-treatment or torture", and that conditions of detention in National Investigation Service facilities could be described as inhuman and degrading. The Committee expressed concern that two prisoners sentenced to death in Stara Zagora Prison had been held in isolation for several years in poor conditions and under an impoverished regime offering very little human contact. Also in March the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed alarm that the Bulgarian authorities had not been sufficiently active in effectively countering incidents of racial violence against members of minority groups, and seemed to have failed to investigate acts of violence promptly and effectively. In view of reported incidents of police harassment and ill-treatment against minorities, and particularly Roma, the Committee expressed concern that the training of law enforcement officials on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was insufficient, and recommended that the Bulgarian authorities take immediate steps to prevent and combat cases of excessive use of force by the security forces. It also recommended the establishment of an independent mechanism to monitor observance of human rights. Dian Yankov Dimitrov, a conscientious objector to military service and prisoner of conscience who had been imprisoned in September 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997), was released in April. In December the government adopted a draft bill on alternative service. Certain of the proposed provisions were at variance with internationally recognized principles. The government failed to initiate a revision of Article 148, paragraph 1, points 2 and 3 of the Penal Code, which appear to restrict the right to freedom of expression and to allow for the imprisonment of anyone who defames a public official. Separate criminal proceedings against journalists Valentin Hadzhiev and Mitko Shtirkov (see Amnesty International Report 1997) continued under this law throughout the year. Among other journalists prosecuted under the law were Karolina Kraeva, from Vratsa, charged in November. She had alleged in an article published in May that the local chief of police had intervened on behalf of a man ordered by the court to vacate her property. At the end of the year she was at liberty pending trial. In January and February, six children and one 18-year-old died of malnutrition and hypothermia in the state-run Home for Mentally Handicapped Children in Dzhurkovo, when more than 80 children wereleftwithoutadequatefoodor heating. There were daily reports of torture and ill-treatment by police officers, but few investigations resulted in the prosecution of those responsible. No progress was reported in investigations into dozens of cases of torture and ill-treatment – many resulting in death – which had been reported in previous years. This illustrated the continuing failure of the authorities to conduct such investigations promptly and impartially. In November the National Police Directorate reported that it had received 74 complaints of ill-treatment by police since the beginning of the year, but claimed that in only 17 cases were there sufficient grounds for investigations to be initiated by military prosecutors. Among cases reported during the year was that of Yanko and Elian Angelov. In September, in Plovdiv, four police officers apprehended the 16-year-old twin brothers on suspicion of theft. They reportedly drove them to a field outside the city where they kicked them and beat them with truncheons and a baton, only stopping when Elian Angelov suffered an epileptic fit. A forensic medical certificate issued by a military hospital established that both boys suffered multiple bruising to the head, back, chest and legs, and that Yanko Angelov also sustained a ruptured left ear-drum and broken jaw. An investigation was reportedly initiated but the results had not been made public by the end of the year. At least five people reportedly died as a result of torture or ill-treatment. In January Stefan Stanev was arrested and taken to Popovo police station on suspicion of theft. Five hours later he was discovered dead in his cell. An autopsy reportedly established that he died from internal haemorrhaging caused by the fracture of three ribs which ruptured the lungs. The reported results of an official investigation – that Stefan Stanev had not been ill-treated, and that the fracture probably occurred when the arresting officer resorted to force in order to restrain him – contradicted an earlier police report that shortly following his arrest Stefan Stanev had been examined by a doctor, who found "no serious health problems". The investigation was reopened in April and the officer who arrested Stefan Stanev was subsequently charged with murder. In March Georgi Byandov was reportedly severely beaten by police officers who questioned him following his arrest in Karnobat. He was later taken to Burgas hospital, where he died from head injuries apparently sustained in the beating. The Ministry of the Interior reportedly claimed that Georgi Byandov had resisted arrest, but that only his arm had been injured. There were reports that officers ill-treated recruits during their compulsory military service. In February, in Aitos, Martin Argurov was allegedly punched and kicked by a sergeant when he failed to return a bullet after sentry duty. Martin Argurov was later treated for a broken jaw and other injuries. An investigation into the incident was initiated only 20 days later, as the commanding officer reportedly attempted to cover up the incident Roma, as in previous years, were particularly targeted for ill-treatment by police officers. Reports of racist ill-treatment in the region of Montana were illustrative of a country-wide pattern of ill-treatment. In June, at a public meeting with the local authorities, a representative of Amnesty International urged the Regional Police Directorate to suspend from duty two officers who were most frequently alleged to have been involved in ill-treatment incidents. The following day, one of these officers was among five police officers who reportedly beat Danail Nedkov Mladenov on the soles of his feet with a truncheon At least nine unarmed people were killed by police in disputed circumstances. Dozens of people were injured in other police shootings reported throughout the year. In one incident in May, Kolyo Todorov, a Rom, was shot by a police officer who observed him leaving the police station in Plovdiv, to which he had been brought on suspicion of theft. Kolyo Todorov died shortly after the incident. The Chief of the Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs reportedly stated that the officer had first fired a warning shot, and had acted legally in apprehending a criminal suspect. The results of an official investigation had not been made public by the end of the year. At least four people were sentenced to death. In October the National Administration for Places of Detention reported that 16 people were under sentence of death. A moratorium on executions, imposed in 1990, remained in force. In February Amnesty International expressed concern about six incidents of police shootings; five cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment by police officers, involving eight victims, two of whom died in suspicious circumstances; and the ill-treatment of hundreds of demonstrators in front of the National Assembly. In March Amnesty International expressed concern about the deaths in the Home for Mentally Handicapped Children in Dzhurkovo. Extreme neglect of those who are in the care of officials acting in a public capacity is considered by Amnesty International to amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In July the organization wrote to the authorities concerning the ill-treatment of Roma in the Montana region. In October it published Bulgaria: Growing incidence of unlawful use of firearms by law enforcement officials and urged the authorities to investigate further incidents of police torture and ill-treatment. In December Amnesty International expressed concern to the President about the prosecution of Karolina Kraeva and urged him to initiate a revision of the law under which she was charged. A response from the authorities in July stated that 12 children had died of pneumonia in February and March in Dzhurkovo, and that food supplies and the heating situation had deteriorated in the winter months, but failed to establish responsibility for allowing the situation to deteriorate to such an extent. The government also replied that investigations into five shooting incidents raised in February by Amnesty International had been suspended on the grounds that the conduct of the officers was permitted by the Law on National Police, which allows the use of firearms against suspects fleeing the scene of the crime. Amnesty International urged the authorities to revise this law to bring it in line with internationally recognized principles on the use of firearms.

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