Macedonian Human Rights Movement International
Macedonians in Pirin Macedonia
Press Release

MHRMI CONDEMNS NEW BULGARIAN COURT VERDICT BANNING MACEDONIAN NGO


If the European Union were taken at its word, it would be shocking to learn that an EU country denies basic human rights to its citizens. Actually, one of the conditions for entry into the EU is, supposedly, respect for human rights. But once a member, the latest Bulgaria case shows, a country can safely deny human rights to its citizens with impunity.

Yesterday, the Bulgarian District Court in the city of Blagoevgrad (original Macedonian name, Gorna Dzumaja) decided that an NGO whose name is “Citizens' Association for the Protection of Basic Individual Human Rights” is acting against the Bulgarian Constitution and banned it. The main reason is that the NGO's aims are to protect Macedonians’ rights, however, Bulgaria denies the very existence of such an ethnicity on its soil and elsewhere. This is a longstanding state policy and the actual case against the NGO was initiated by its security services (DANS) and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. Bulgaria has been convicted for similar reasons on more than 10 occasions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), however, other than paying minor financial penalties, it continues its anti-Macedonian policies, demonstrating how ineffective – and unwilling – the EU is in protecting its citizens and assuring them their basic human rights.

Furthermore, the European Union and NATO are complicit in enabling attacks on Macedonians' human rights as they demanded and imposed, through the US-installed illegitimate Zaev “government”, a name, identity and history change on Macedonia, including provisions that sign away the existence of Macedonians in Bulgaria and Greece. These actions only serve to embolden the oppressors that demanded the name change, and we have seen the consequences as Bulgaria and Greece's attacks on Macedonians have dramatically increased.

MHRMI calls on the international community and those truly interested in defending human rights to condemn Bulgaria's latest anti-Macedonian actions and to condemn the imposed Macedonia name change. We demand that the EU, Council of Europe, UN, and human rights organizations that have remained silent to finally defend the ideals of human rights that they claim to uphold.