SAC: Karakachanov carried out discriminatory harassment with his anti-Roma statements in the village of Vojvodinovo

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) confirmed a second ruling of Sofia City Administrative Court, that Krasimir Karakachanov carried out discriminatory harassment with his anti-Roma statements in the village of Vojvodinovo in January 2019, while he held the positions of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister, FOCUS reported.

This happened after the Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPC) ruled twice that there was no discrimination in the statements. For the first time, the commission ruled in this way in January 2020, but in June 2021 the SAC returned the file for a new ruling, stating that discrimination was present.

After the file is returned, it takes a full two years for the CPD to hold new hearings on the file and again announce it for resolution.

In September 2023, the CCD decided again that Karakachanov did not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity. This decision was declared null and void by the Sofia City Administrative Court in December 2023 due to a direct contradiction with the reasons of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2021. After an appeal against this ruling by Karakachanov, the case again fell to the Supreme Court.

With its new decision, handed down at the end of last week, the SAC indicates that the CCP must rule again, for the third time, expressly complying with the reasons of the first instance court and finally finding that Karakachanov committed discrimination.

The case of Vojvodinovo developed in January 2019, when, following a crime committed by two established and convicted youths, the Roma from the village of Vojvodinovo were collectively punished with expulsion following mass protests against them in the village.

In connection with these events, the European Court of Human Rights established that the Bulgarian authorities had committed a violation of Art. 8 in connection with Art. 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (discrimination in the exercise of the right to private and family life).

In the decision, the Court in Strasbourg pays explicit attention to the statements of Deputy Prime Minister Karakachanov during the events.

BHK recalls that in June 2023, the CPD established that by maintaining a section on its website entitled "The Gypsy Question", the VMRO-BND party was carrying out discriminatory harassment. This decision has entered into force.