Amnesty Condemns Call to Ban Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Amnesty International has strongly criticised a call for Bulgaria's Prosecutor-General, Sotir Tsatsarov, to dissolve the country's biggest human rights group, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, BHC, describing it as "an unprecedented attempt to silence independent and critical voices by the authorities".

"As a member of the European Union, Bulgaria has a responsibility to uphold the rule of law, and we expect the Prosecutor General to firmly reject the request for dissolution," Amnesty International's Europe Deputy Director, Massimo Moratti, said on Tuesday.

"The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is the most respected human rights organisation in Bulgaria," he added.

"Their work providing capacity-building for judges and prosecutors and legal services to people in need is crucial. Attempts to deregister them for their work are a direct assault on freedom of expression."

The call to de-register the rights organization, which was founded in 1992, comes from the nationalist VMRO party, which is a partner in Bulgaria's coalition government led by Boyko Borissov.

On Monday, it said it had called on the prosecutor's office to annul the BHC's registration, accusing it of conducting "anti-Bulgarian activities".

Angel Dzhambazki, an MEP and VMRO candidate for the post of mayor of Sofia in local elections due on October 27, and Alexander Sidi, a member of the Bulgarian parliament, filed the application.

They accuse the BHC of applying "direct and indirect pressure on Bulgarian magistrates and conducting anti-constitutional, illegal, immoral and openly anti-Bulgarian activities".

According to VMRO, the BHC's activities, including organising seminars with prosecutors and judges and representing clients before both the European Court...