Home > Hate Crimes (in progress) > Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Hate Crimes (in progress)

The following overview of hate crimes legislation is based on information submitted directly to the ODIHR by Bulgaria during the course of 2004-2005. While, in some instances, the wording of the legislation may appear unclear, it has not been changed from its original form.

On the basis of this structure, ODIHR enourages pS to submit relevant information to fill in any gaps.

Legislation is constantly updated, and therefore the provisions cited are subject to change. The term racist is illustrative and does not exclude other bias types. The use of "Article", "Section", or § refers to parts of the respective Criminal Code.

International crimes [1]	Articles 416-419 cover genocide and apartheid.
Incitement to hatred / Dissemination of racist ideas [2]	§108 (1): A person who preaches fascist or another anti-democratic ideology or forceful change of the social and state order as established by the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years or a fine of up to thirty thousand BGN. Chapter 3 (Crimes against the rights of Citizens), Section 1 (Crimes against National and Racial Equality), §162: (1) A person who propagates or abets to racial or national hostility or hatred or to racial discrimination shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years and by public censure. Chapter 3, Section 2 (Crimes against Religious Denominations), §164: A person who propagates hatred on a religious basis by speech, through the press, action or in another way, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years or by corrective labour.
Holocaust denial [3]
Personal violence	§163: prohibits taking part in a crowd rallied to attack groups, individuals or property in connection with their national or racial affiliation. Aggravating factors include the crowd being armed or the infliction of severe bodily injury or death. Punishment by imprisonment or corrective labour.
Destruction of property	Chapter 3 (Crimes against the rights of Citizens), Section 1 (Crimes against National and Racial Equality), §162: (2) A person who uses violence against another or damages his property because of his nationality, race, religion or because of his political convictions, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years and by public censure.
Civil rights violations	Protection against Discrimination Act adopted 16 September 2003. Comprehensive, consolidated anti-discrimination law. Art. 4. (1) All direct or indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, extraction, ethnicity, nationality, origin, religion or faith, education, beliefs, political affiliation, personal or public status, disability, age, sexual orientation, family status, property status, or any other ground provided for by law or international treaty the Republic of Bulgaria is a party to, shall be prohibited. Protects labour rights, education and other rights.> Provides for administrative penal provisions. Chapter 3, Section 2, §165: prohibition of interference with freedom of religion; provides for punishment by imprisonment. Chapter 3, Section 6 (Crimes against the Labour Rights of the Citizens), §172: prohibition of discrimination in field of employment; provides for punishment by imprisonment or fine.
Racist organizations [4]	Chapter 3 (Crimes against the rights of Citizens), Section 1 (Crimes against National and Racial Equality), §162 (3) A person who forms or leads an organisation or group which has set itself the objective of committing acts under the preceding paragraphs, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for one to six years and by public censure. (4) A person who is a member of such an organisation or group shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years and by public censure.
Racist cyber-crime
Aggravating circumstances	Article 54(1) provides that judges are to take into account the motives and aggravating circumstances of a crime when making sentencing decisions. Although this article does not specifically mention racist motivation, a judge may make use of it in order to take such a motivation into account and thus hand down a more severe penalty.
Bias types [5]	Nationality, race, religion.

[1] Relevant international crimes include genocide, apartheid, slavery and persecution.

[2] Includes (public) incitement to racial discrimination, violence or hatred; (public) dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred; (public) insults and threats.

[3] Includes public denial or gross trivialization of international crimes, especially genocide/the Holocaust.

[4] Includes creation, support, participation.

[5] Includes bias types referred to in definitions of crimes and as aggravating factors, but excludes crimes based on denying equality of citizens, which tend to encompass broader grounds for discrimination.

Hide