News

Margarita Ilieva, deputy chair of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and director of its Legal Defense Programme, is this year’s winner of the annual award of the Austrian League of Human Rights.

On 7 October the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg delivered a judgement against Bulgaria for violation of the right to life and the lack of an effective investigation in the case of Karanja v. Bulgaria. It concerns the fatal shooting in 1997 of Peter Karanja by police officers in Sofia following his escape from a police station

New York Times and International Herald Tribune publish article about BHC Forsaken Children campaign. The article focuses on the recent BHC campaign to end impunity in Bulgaria's institutions for mentally disabled children.

The BHC has publishes free 'Take action' card in connection with the Forsaken Children campaign.

The institutions for children with disabilities in Bulgaria: hundreds of deaths caused by hunger, cold and neglect, dozens poisoned by drugs, held tied up and physically abused – and no one held responsible.

Hundreds of child deaths, avoidable but never investigated, a large proportion of which caused by famine. The current state of the social institutions for children reveals malnourishment, violence, physical and chemical restraining.

Attorney Valeria Ilareva, Elektronna Granitsa, Petar Kichashky and Ivo Indjev are among the nominees who received recognition for protection of human rights