In the Name of Democracy: Resignation of Krasimir Karakachanov

The case of a Bulgarian citizen, victim of battery committed by two Bulgarian citizens of Roma ethnic origin in the village of Voyvodino, is a crime under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria. As for any crime, in the present case, both individuals are responsible for their offense if proven guilty.
 
In a Rule of law society, when a crime is committed, it is a responsibility of the Prosecution Office to bring charges against the perpetrators (in the case of a crime of a general nature) or a right of the injured party to bring proceedings before the Court (in the case of a private offense).
 
In a Rule of law society, the criminal responsibility is PERSONAL.
 
In a Rule of law society, statements such as "Gypsies in Bulgaria have become extremely insolent and the tolerance of Bulgarian society has been exhausted" and "…the truth is that a comprehensive program for solving the Gypsy issue needs to be elaborated. People are not obliged to endure a part of the population that has only rights and does not want to understand that it has obligations and must respect the law " are not only illegal but constitute the criminal offense under Art. 162 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria, which bans the imposition of ethnic hatred, and it is  punishable by imprisonment of one to four years and a fine of five to ten thousand BGN, as well as by a public reprimand.
 
However, the statements have been made before a number of journalists by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Krassimir Karakachanov. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria allows himself to go even further in his speech, using the means of threat: “All buildings in the Roma neighborhood of Vojvodinovo are illegal. On Tuesday, on-site inspections will be carried out by the Directorate for National Construction Control and the Fire Department and the houses will be demolished at the earliest after 14 days, when the legal deadline for appeal will pass," says Karakachanov, quoted by Nova TV.
 
We remind Mr. Karakachanov that Bulgaria has already been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights for an ILLEGAL attempt to demolish Roma housing in Batalova Vodenitsa in the case of Yordanova and Others v. Bulgaria, where the Court decided that the removal of Roma families from Batalova Vodenitsa is not necessary in a democratic society and would constitute a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, meaning violation of their right to a home and to personal and family life.
 
In a democratic state, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense can not afford to publicly raise ethnic hatred.
 
In a democratic state, a crime committed by one person brings a personal criminal responsibility, not a collective one, of the entire Roma community. A Deputy Prime Minister should be able to distinguish this basic principle of the criminal law, because it is a fundamental democratic principle and is at the core of the Rule of law. Moreover it is not the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense who has to monitor compliance with the law and its implementation. For the latter there is another fundamental principle of the law apparently avoided, namely, THE SEPARATION OF AUTHORITIES/POWER.
 
In a democratic state, the Deputy Prime Minister should be aware of the Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights against his state and follow these decisions.
 
In a democratic state, after such statements, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense should resign because of a deep misunderstanding demonstrated regarding  what personal criminal responsibility means, what incitement to ethnic hatred means, what violation of democracy and the Rule of law are.
 
Therefore, Mr. Karakachanov, in the name of preserving the democracy in the Republic of Bulgaria, we REQUIRE you to resign!
 
The petition was initiated by the Equality League, National Coalition INTELLECT and Roma Standing Conference

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