Bulgaria's Sofia Moves to Get Rid of Illegal Roma Squatters

The illegal Roma squatters in Bulgaria's capital Sofia will be demolished and the people living there will be returned to their home communities, the city's Mayor, Yordanka Fandakova, has declared.

"Everyone is welcome in Sofia, but they cannot live in illegal dwellings and on grounds they do not own," Fandakova has told the Standart daily.

The Mayor of Sofia's Lyulin residential district has already removed some of the illegal dwellings, the paper says.

In April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that evicting Roma from Sofia's "Batalova Vodenitsa" Roma ghetto would violate the right to life.

Amnesty International called it a "landmark judgment."

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!