Religious Freedom Summary* (1997)


Although the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, the Government restricts this right in practice for some non-Orthodox religious groups. The ability of a number of religious groups to operate freely continued to come under attack, both as a result of government action and because of public intolerance. The government requirement that groups whose activities have a religious element register with the Council of Ministers remained an obstacle to the activity of some religious groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Word of Life, the Unification Church, and Baha'is, which have been denied registration. In December the Directorate of Religious Affairs registered the "United Evangelical Churches," an alliance of five evangelical churches, and in August it registered the Gideons as a "religious group."

The Ministry of Education announced plans to include a course on religion in the high school curriculum beginning with the 1998-99 school year. The plan reportedly calls for a "world religion" course that avoids endorsing any particular faith.

The Government refused many requests for visas and residence permits for foreign missionaries, some of whom came under physical attack in public places. Members of the Mormon Church reported continued acts of harassment and assault, including some perpetrated by government authorities themselves. Two groups of Mormon missionaries were singled out for extensive searches and had religious and other literature as well as personal belongings confiscated at Sofia Airport in April. At no point did the customs officials cite any law that would have been breached by the importation or possession of the Mormons' literature but insisted that they were acting under orders from their superiors. When one missionary was later advised that the items could be retrieved at the airport, he was arrested for alleged possession of methamphetamines which, according to customs authorities, were contained in over-the-counter dietary supplements that were removed from the missionaries' luggage at the time of confiscation. The Minister of Interior acted promptly to obtain his release. A criminal investigation is still pending.

In late 1995, Jehovah's Witnesses brought a complaint to the European Commission of Human Rights about the Government's refusal to register the organization. The Commission ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses' appeal was admissible before the Commission, and the Government subsequently indicated in the press that it might be willing to come to terms out of court with Jehovah's Witnesses on those practices that the Government has considered objectionable. Talks were continuing between the two parties at year's end. Proposed legislation allowing alternatives to compulsory military service provided a possible opportunity for agreement. One member of Jehovah's Witnesses who was imprisoned for refusing to serve in the military was released in 1997. Another member of Jehovah's Witnesses, an Austrian citizen, was ordered to leave the country in September.

On several occasions the police shut down religious meetings of unregistered groups. In April and August, police broke up Word of Life religious gatherings, and in May customs officials at Sofia Airport confiscated videotapes belonging to the same religious group. In April and in June, police broke up meetings of the Unification Church and confiscated literature and other items. In May two members of Jehovah's Witnesses in Petrich were beaten and driven out of town by local members of the political party "Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization." No action was taken by law enforcement authorities. In June police broke up a Jehovah's Witness gathering in Plovdiv and confiscated religious materials. In August police entered the home of a Jehovah's Witness member to break up a religious gathering, confiscated religious materials, books, and personal videos, and filmed those present at the meeting. Also in August, Haskovo municipal authorities banned a public meeting of Baha'is and forced them to abandon an apartment in the city. Later in August, police raided an Islamic religious seminar on the grounds that it was not registered. On this occasion, the police brought cameramen with them who recorded the raid for broadcast on national television news. These incidents lend credence to charges by human rights activists that the police are monitoring and interfering with the activities of many unregistered groups.

The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the "traditional" religion. Along with the Orthodox Church, a number of major religious bodies, including the Muslim and Jewish communities, receive government financial support. There was no evidence that the Government discriminated against the members of any religious group in making restitution to previous owners of properties that were nationalized during the Communist regime. The Government actively supported property restitution for a group representing the Jewish community. For most registered religious groups, there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction. A school for imams, a Muslim cultural center, university theological faculties, and religious primary schools operated freely. Bibles and other religious materials in the Bulgarian language were on most occasions freely imported and printed, and Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish publications were published on a regular basis. Nevertheless, police confiscated religious literature during searches of Mormon missionaries, a visiting Word of Life minister, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

In September three Bulgarian Socialist Party members of Parliament proposed the levying of fines against those leaders of religious groups who have been denied registration yet continue to perform religious ceremonies. The fines would range from $56 to $560 (100,000 to 1 million Leva).

During compulsory military service most Muslims are placed in construction units where they often perform commercial or maintenance work rather than serve in normal military units. The mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) protested this practice (see Section 5).

A long-running feud in the Muslim community ended in October. Until then many Muslims viewed the Government's recognition of Nedim Gendjev as Chief Mufti to be interference in their affairs. Many members of the ethnic Turkish minority viewed Gendjev as a collaborator with the "Regeneration Process" of the Zhivkov regime in the 1980's, during which many ethnic-Turkish citizens were intimidated into exchanging their Turkish names for Bulgarian ones. The Government continued to refuse to recognize the election of a rival Chief Mufti, Fikri Sali, who was elected at an alternative Islamic conference in 1995. In late October, the leadership of the Muslim community participated in a unification conference organized by the Government and elected a new Mufti, Mustafa Alish Hadji, who was found acceptable by the majority of supporters of both former rival muftis. The Government thereupon registered both Hadji and the new statutes of the Muslim leadership as adopted by the conference.

At the Department of Theology of Sofia University all students are required to present a certificate of baptism from the Orthodox Church, and married couples must present a marriage certificate from the same in order to enroll in the Department's classes; in 1996 two non-Orthodox applicants were denied admission to the Department when they were unable to present such certificates. The applicants then appealed to the local courts. One local court has already decided in favor of one applicant.

The schism that opened in the Orthodox Church in 1992 continued, and the Government refused to recognize an alternative Patriarch elected by his supporters in 1996. The Supreme Court ruled that the decision was unlawful, but the alternate Patriarch remained unregistered by the new Government.

*Source: County Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997, U.S. Department of State