site.btaMRF Calls on Prosecution to Investigate Forced Assimilation of Muslims Run by Communist Regime in 80s

A petition demanding a fair trial and effective sentences for the perpetrators of the so-called Revival Process, a policy of forced assimilation practiced by the communist regime in the 1980s and directed at the country's Muslim minority, has been submitted to the Military District Prosecution Service, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning press service reported here on Thursday. The petition was signed by MRF Chair Delyan Peevski and Co-Chairs Jordan Tzonev, Halil Letifov and Hamid Hamid.

The petition reads: "We demand that the institution led by you immediately take action to establish and verify the facts of the events of 1984, as well as those of 1989. If later, any crimes are found to have been committed, we demand to have charges brought [...] for committing genocide against Bulgarian Muslims."

The MRF said that the Appellate Court in Sofia ordered the Military District Prosecution Service in 2022 to continue investigating the alleged crimes against Bulgarian Turks and Muslims and revoked a decision to terminate the criminal proceedings. This would allow to avoid another neglect of the case on the grounds that the absolute statute of limitations has expired for the atrocities of the communist regime and its repressive apparatus.

Peevski said on Wednesday: "Now the MRF will fulfill its historic mission - to bring to light and punish not only the culprit behind of the so-called 'Revival Process' but also the perpetrators whom our people faced in those dark years and for whom they have been awaiting retribution for more than 30 years."