site.btaSupreme Court of Cassation Registers DOST Party

Supreme Court of Cassation Registers DOST Party

Sofia, July 29 (BTA) - The Supreme Court of Cassation has registered the Democrats for Responsibility, Freedom and Tolerance (DOST) party, repealing the judgment of Sofia City Court to refuse registration.

Sofia City Court refused registration on grounds that DOST uses an abbreviation consciously sought to sound like the word "friend" in Turkish and that the majority of the party founders have Turkish names, while the Constitution forbids parties to be founded on ethnic, racial or religious basis.

The Supreme Court of Cassation, however, does not share the first-instance reasoning. The motives of the judges say that the thesis of Sofia City Court about ethnic or religious actions are purely hypothetical. The conclusion about the possible existence of objectives other than those officially declared by the founders and the statutes of the party is also absolutely arbitrary, the court said.