Residents and homeowners in the Lovech village of Staro Stefanovo sent a letter of complaint against writer Rosemary De Meo, signed by over 100 people. They claim that De Meo and her husband are systematically harassing them.
Here is the text of the complaint (without editorial intervention):
To: District Prosecutor's Office – Lovech
To: Regional Governor – Lovech Region
To: Mayor of Lovech Municipality
To: Deputy Mayor of Stefanovo village, municipality. Lovech
To: The Head of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Lovech
From: Residents, heirs and property owners of the village of Stefanovo, municipality of Lovech
Regarding: verbal and mental harassment and insults of the residents of the village of Stefanovo-Staroto, exercised by Rosemary De Meo, a resident of the village, and physical harassment exercised by her husband and Valentin Iliev.
Dear Madam/Sir,
The undersigned residents of the village of Stefanovo inform you that Mrs. De Meo exercises systematic harassment on us. She officially states the same in video films, publicistic programs, interviews, etc. the following insulting qualifications for both the village and us: in the monologue, disguised in the film as an interview with her friend Tina Ivaylova, they call us: old people, sunk in fear and mire of addictions, ignorance, illiteracy and chicken abuses have declared war on her and her family, which is an undignified personal battle, dictated by a guilty conscience and vile gossip, born of a huge delusion that the village is ours. Specifically, about one of us, he claims that: he did not study, did not travel, did not read, did not see the world, did not see beauty, did not recognize the unknown, did not learn anything beyond what his father and grandfather told him…
He publicly accuses us of being: uninterested in our own properties; unwilling to change anything in the village - we do not move to do anything for the common good; to restore over a hundred-year-old houses; to mow the streets; we do not see the misery in the village; we do not maintain the houses in which we live; we are completely indifferent to the architectural monuments; we have no eyes to see what is happening in the village, which is dirty, sunk in ruin and oblivion, overgrown with weeds and with broken streets and a collapsing school. We are also guilty of not wanting to guide and direct tourists in the village to the routes and historical places determined by it. It declares that we have disgusted it and we need a literacy campaign, that animals roam the village, everything is in manure, there is incredible dirt everywhere, that we do whatever we want, that we wait for money from the state.
The same allows itself to enter other people's properties without permission, to rummage through them, to show other people's personal letters and belongings in the media, accusing the owners of not preserving their ancestral memory and having buried it in their collapsed houses. In the same way, on 21.06.2019, she allowed herself with a group of followers, who are strangers and are not residents of the village, to enter and stay in the church from 8 pm to 1 am. at night - without permission from the church administration. Two years ago, without the consent and approval of the Lovech municipality, without project documentation coordinated with the National Institute of Construction and Management of the Environment, she allowed herself to demolish an old and build a new fountain, damaging the water catchment and. She states that the beauty of her new creation has blown up the "old ones"! Currently, Mrs. De Meo is publicly outraged that there is no library open all day, knowing full well that the community center is run on a voluntary basis and with voluntary labor, as well as that the village has about thirty residents (who live year-round) with an average age of about 70 years. Mrs. De Meo has never visited a single initiative or event of the community center, but she allows herself to give a negative assessment of its work, to publicly criticize and slander it, while mocking our activities and publicly insulting them. She states that the community center has a closed library, an erased memory, no young people, no visitors, and no future!
Mrs. De Meo even claims that the funds voluntarily collected for events, such as the village festival or the Easter celebration, should be used for purposes determined by her and different from the will of the sponsors. She states that the new benches donated to the church will not redeem the shame and unsightliness of the village.
„Without the consent of the people, she illegally installed surveillance cameras on the electric pole /in front of her home, ul.“Rezia“13/, without informing even the residents of the street, nor the police and the deputy mayor. The people of the village are also subjected to constant wiretapping and every conversation in their vicinity is recorded.
And more:
She undertakes to demolish someone else's yard, dig up plants and change the security of the fence, without the knowledge and permission of the property owners.
She claims that cars should not pass on a municipal street in the village, bordering their properties /two/ and gets into an argument with those who pass there with their vehicles.
She and her husband commit systematic violations of the Public Order Regulations of the Municipality of Lovech - Ordinance No. 1, Article 2, points 1 and 2.
She files reports, mostly with false content and distortion of the truth of the situations.
Complete disregard and ignoring the opinion of the people of the village on issues concerning the community (the so-called restoration of the fountain).
At the end of March, 2024 Valentin Iliev, the husband of Mrs. De Meo, attacked Miroslav Markov in a public place, striking him on the body and face and lowering his head into the trough of a village fountain in an attempt to drown him. After the intervention of a witness in the person of Veselin Daskalov, who lives next door to the fountain in question, this was discontinued. The victim filed a complaint! This is not an isolated case, Mr. Iliev physically and verbally attacked Tsanko Draganski in the summer of the same 2024, threatening him with murder and telling him that he was not afraid of going to prison. A complaint has also been filed for this case! The same person threatens other residents of the village with beatings and self-harm - Radoy Radoev, Veselin Daskalov and Rositsa Seyzinska, who is also threatened with beatings and is grabbed by the cheek in front of witness Tinka Gatsova.
Given the above, we insist that actions be taken to stop the mental and physical harassment, insults and provocations against the residents of the village by Ms. DeMeo and Valentin Iliev, as well as to remove the illegally installed surveillance camera. We do not dispute that some of the findings mentioned by her are true, but in no case can the residents of the village deal with problems that are within the competence of the municipality and the state. Because of all the above, we do not want Rosemary De Meo and Valentin Iliev to represent the interests of the village and its residents in any public activities (including restorations and management of buildings of public importance), whether as private individuals or as representatives of organizations and associations with a social or other focus.
We believe that people who fail to establish normal human and neighborly relations in everyday life are NOT capable and are NOT able to protect the interests of the village, but only their own.
We believe and expect that this letter will be taken into account when the Municipality of Lovech makes decisions of public importance for the village of Stefanovo.
We are seeking assistance so that this woman and her husband can leave the residents of the village in peace, so that we can live without fear and anxiety from encroachments on their part, according to their own orders and desires. Our village is known for the hospitality of its residents, for our unity. All visitors are fascinated by its beauty, its history and are puzzled by the unfounded public attacks on both the village and its residents.
09.06.2025
S. Stefanovo