Bulgarian Presidential Candidate Accused of Attack on LGBT Centre

Sofia Pride in June 2016. Photo: EPA/STR

Rainbow Hub, a venue for LGBT-related events in central Sofia, was entered and vandalised by a group of around ten people on Saturday.

Activist Gloriya Filipova, who was there at the time, told local media that she was punched in the face by Boyan Rassate, who she recognised. She also said he was carrying a knife.

At the time of the attack, a discussion event between several transgender people was ongoing. No arrests have been made so far.

Rassate, who identifies himself as a National Socialist on his Facebook account, has so far declined requests to comment on the assault, although he remarked to Nova TV that the centre should have expected such an attack.

As a presidential candidate he has political immunity until November 14 but the protesters on Monday are demanding that the prosecution take action to remove it.

Bilitis and GLAS, whose offices are in the apartment, also named Rassate as the one leading the group.

The attack was widely condemned by politicians; a rare occasion on which political leaders have spoken out against a homophobic incident.

"It's unacceptable that such homophobic attacks continue to happen in this part of the European Union. This only solidifies our opinion that there needs to be amendments to the criminal code which would cover crimes of a homophobic and transphobic nature," the Green Movement, part of the Democratic Bulgaria alliance, said in a statement on Sunday.

The assault was also criticised by former prime minister and leader of GERB, Boyko Borissov, who is usually neutral in regards to human rights topics and who had the nationalist United Patriots as his coalition partners between 2017-2021.

"We condemn the attack on an...