Wednesday, November 03, 2021
Attack on LGBTQ center
Bulgarian presidential candidate charged
At the weekend, rioters storm a center of the LGBTQ movement in Sofia and devastate it. An applicant for the presidency of Bulgaria is also said to have participated in the attack. The public prosecutor is now bringing charges against the nationalist.
Bulgarian prosecutors have charged a nationalist presidential candidate with attacking a community center for homosexuals and transgender people in Sofia. The presidential candidate Bojan Stankow, known in public as Bojan Rasate, has been arrested, the investigators said. His immunity as a presidential candidate was therefore withdrawn from the 50-year-old.
The public prosecutor accuses Rasate of “gross violations of public order” and “bodily harm for rowdy, racist or xenophobic motives”. Both offenses can be punished with imprisonment in Bulgaria. According to the investigators’ statement, Rasate pleaded not guilty. He also had “exercised his right not to make a statement”.
Ambassadors express solidarity
The LGBTQ community center in Sofia was stormed by rioters last Saturday. An employee was hit in the face and the premises were devastated. The foundation that runs the center accused Rasate of leading the attack. The attack on the community center had caused outrage in Bulgaria and internationally.
Ambassadors from eleven countries visited the center on Monday and expressed their solidarity with the LGBTQ community. The abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer in English. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International also condemned the attack.
Hate crime is not a separate criminal offense in Bulgaria. Crimes motivated by hate are being prosecuted as rioting in the south-eastern European country. Human rights organizations in the country are therefore calling for a change in legislation.
Bulgaria is one of the countries that have not signed the so-called Istanbul Convention. The Sofia government argues that such a move would pave the way for gay marriage to be legalized. Homophobia is widespread among the Bulgarian public. The presidential election in Bulgaria will take place on November 14th. Head of state Rumen Radew is applying for a second term.