site.btaProsecutor General Sees Need of Considerable Revisions to Religious Denominations Act

Prosecutor General Sees Need of Considerable Revisions to Religious Denominations Act

Pazardjik, Southern Bulgaria, April 1 (BTA) - The Religious Denominations Act is in need of considerable revisions in view of the new realities, providing a precise balance between religious freedom and the protection of the public, Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov said. He was speaking at a Friday news conference before a working meeting with the Pazardjik District and Regional Prosecution.

On February 25, the Pazardjik District Court proceeded with the trial of 14 defendants charged with professing religious-based hatred and propagating the ideas of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS). The defendants are from Pazardjik, Asenovgrad, Plovdiv and Smolyan (Southern Bulgaria), are aged between 34 and 45, and include one woman. They were apprehended in two successive raids of the State Agency for National Security in the Roma neighbourhoods of the four cities about a year ago.

Tsatsarov commented that the trial is not related to religious freedom. According to him, the Criminal Code currently does not provide prosecutors with the necessary "instruments" and a more adequate reaction is called for in relation to provisions concerning such crimes.

Taking a question whether the wearing of burqas should be restricted, Tsatsarov expressed the opinion that there should be such a restriction in public places and particularly at educational establishments. The subject should be discussed very carefully. Religious freedom should not be touched in any case but religious motifs should not be used for unlawful propaganda, political ends or radicalization, he added.

The event was attended by Deputy Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, Plovdiv Appellate Prosecutor Ivan Daskalov and Pazardjik District Prosecutor Vassil Malinov.