A 23-year-old Bulgarian alleged to have set up a Facebook page called „Slaughter of the Gypsies“ after the Katounitsa incident was due in court in the Black Sea city of Varna on October 13 2011 on charges of inciting racial hatred.

The Katounitsa incident in September happened after a 20-year-old was run over and killed by a motorist reportedly linked to controversial Roma businessman Kiril „Tsar Kiro“ Rashkov. The incident was followed by an arson attack on Rashkov’s property and a series of anti-Roma marches in several Bulgarian cities.

Prosecutors allege that Slav Zhechev set up a Facebook page, illustrated with photographs of knives and mistreatment of Roma people, which within a few hours gathered 76 people for a planned September 28 involving the gathering of weapons.

Zhechev was due to appear in Varna District Court to answer the charges.

A criminal trial involving the alleged use of social networks to incite racial and ethnic hatred is a first for Bulgaria.

The aftermath of the Katounitsa incident caused widespread concern among international human rights groups about ethnic tension in Bulgaria. The Government underlined that it saw the initial incident as a criminal case and pledged to come down hard on those who sought to exploit to sow ethnic divisions.

The incident has been taken up as an issue by far-right political forces competing in Bulgaria’s October presidential and municipal elections.

According to Bulgaria’s 2011 census, there are more than 325 000 Roma people in the country, just less than five per cent of the total population of 7.3 million.

Quelle: The Sofia Echo
Stand: 13.10.2011