On the 18th of January 2013 Officer in Command (OC) Mitko Spasov, led a brutal and vicious attack upon 2 prisoners in 13th group Sofia Central Prison. At around 2pm Mitko with about 10 other guards ran into 13th group with batons drawn. 13th group at the time was peaceful and quiet; there were no problems or violence before the guards entered. The guards took Martin Pekov a Bulgarian and started beating him as they had information that he had…
Report on the visit to Bulgaria carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 4 to 10 May 2012 is already published officialy on the website of Council of Europe. In pursuance of Article 7 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”), a delegation of the CPT visited Bulgaria from 4 to 10…
About a year has passed since the violent rape gang assaulted, sexually molested and raped up to 10 victims in Sofia Central Prison’s 8th Group. Just by the passing of time all those involved including the Mayor-Prisoner (responsible prisoner for the group), the Social-Inspector, the guards posted to 8th Group and the perpetrators and victims have all moved on to different places in the national prison system. However not a single perpetrator was ever charged for the mass rapes that…
Open letter to the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice, the Bulgarian Government and the European Society From: Jock Palfreeman, Chairman of the Bulgarian Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Association On the 15/12/2012 Florenzo Tandini, an Albanian citizen in 10th group Sofia Central Prison was arguing with another prisoner in their cell. There was no physical fighting, when about 8 guards with batons ran into the 10-A cell and stuck Florenzo Tandid on his left side of his face with a baton. Florenzo Tandini attempted…
On the 26.07.2012 the Bulgarian Prisoners` Rehabilitation Association (B.P.R.A.) was registered in the Sofia City Court (Bulgaria). We are an association comprised completely of prisoners and ex-prisoners. The Association is the voice of this part of the Bulgarian society, that up to now has been completely ignored- the prisoners. Our main goal is to reduce the massive difference between prisoners´ rights in other E.U. member states and these in Bulgaria. At the moment Bulgaria has the highest record of human…
We are currently waiting for our association to be registered in the Sofia city court, a strange bulgarian law means all NGO’s have to be registered through the courts.So far the judge overlooking the registration has made no objection to the right of the association of prisoners and has requested that the associations president – Jock Palfreeman have his signature confirmed by witnesses as the court failed to call the founding members in person to the court hearing. The Bulgarian…