About 75 people were rescued from "two houses of horrors" in Bulgaria, where the inhabitants were tied by the legs, drugged and beaten.
The facilities, located in the village of Yagoda, near the city of Stara Zagora, operated as so-called "health centers for the elderly", offering "rooms for rent" for about 400 euros per month.
But in reality these were "houses of horrors", according to Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev.
This is what the British publication Daily Mail wrote about the horrific revelations in the homes for the elderly in Stara Zagora, FOCUS reported.
Bulgarian authorities announced the rescue operation that saved dozens of residents from being locked in rooms without mattresses and with window handles removed.
Shocking photos show a thin, exhausted elderly man with his legs tightly bound with a rag, lying on a dirty mattress with a missing sock.
Other scandalous footage shows an elderly man being carried out of the facility on a stretcher, as well as a dirty, neglected bathroom.
Six people have been arrested, and the Stara Zagora prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into "kidnapping, violence and negligence", according to a statement from the district prosecutor's office.
It said: "According to testimonies, an elderly woman had not left the facility for four years".
Another resident who tried to escape was caught, beaten and left unconscious.
Bulgaria's justice ministry added that some of those rescued had "tied their feet and drugged" and locked in rooms "without mattresses, with window handles removed and completely cut off from the outside world".
Minister Georgi Georgiev presented disturbing images showing tied-up residents and the appalling living conditions in the facilities in question during a press conference in the region.
He said some of the victims were found in critical condition, with 18 of them taken to hospital by ambulance.
Georgiev added to journalists that several attempts had been made to inspect the facilities in recent weeks, but authorities had been prevented from entering.
Some of the residents were "under the influence of strong tranquilizers": "Blood tests are currently being carried out to establish the substances used".
He described the hygiene at the facilities as "shocking" – with unqualified staff administering injections, and no ongoing on-site medical care, with doctors only coming in the event of death.
Georgiev added that residents had no access to their phones or personal documents, and were told that the devices would be returned to them if their relatives called.
The centers, registered as rental properties rather than licensed health or social care facilities, have already been searched, with documents seized, he said.
The minister stressed that the government was launching mass inspections of nursing homes and hospices to stop the practice of vulnerable people being used for property fraud.
He said: "These revelations are related to ongoing investigations into property mafia schemes targeting helpless people".
"The Executive Agency "Medical Supervision" and the Agency for the Quality of Social Services have carried out over 100 inspections, revealing numerous violations.
"Four licenses have been revoked, one operator has voluntarily given up its license, and another facility is in the process of revoking its license.".
"Several others have received prescriptions to eliminate non-compliances.".
The lack of adequate care for the elderly in Bulgaria has led to the development of illegal centers in the country.
Nine elderly people died in a fire in November 2021 in a home for the elderly near the city of Varna.
Four more died in a similar incident in May 2022 in another facility in the same area.
International organizations often criticize the poor condition of healthcare facilities in Bulgaria — the poorest country in the European Union.
The Council of Europe's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), for example, spoke out specifically on the issue of social institutions and psychiatric hospitals in 2021.
A statement said: "For more than 25 years now, the CPT has consistently expressed its deep concern about a number of issues relating to the treatment, conditions and legal guarantees for patients with mental disorders and residents of social institutions".
Despite urging "decisive action", the committee added: "Unfortunately, during its recent visits to Bulgaria in 2017, 2020 and 2021, CPT delegations witnessed a continued lack of such action".