Bulgaria: Pro-Russian Party “Vazrazhdane” is being Investigated in relations to a Disgusting Nazi Collage

An investigation is underway against the pro-Russian party "Vazrazhdane" for a particularly vile Nazi collage published on the Telegram social network, which depicts former foreign minister of Bulgaria Solomon Passy.

The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has assigned a joint investigation to the National Security Agency and the State Police for a crime under Art. 162 and Art. 164 of the Criminal Code.

In a statement from the prosecutor's office, it is said that the inspection was carried out at the request of the Association "Organization of Jews in Bulgaria Shalom". Solomon Passy is of Jewish descent.

In the course of the investigation, it must be established whether, through speech, print, or other means of mass information, through information systems or in any other way, citizens and/or people's representatives from the 49th National Assembly preach or incite discrimination, violence or hatred, based on race, nationality, ethnicity or religion.

The period for carrying out an inspection by law is up to three months, after which an assessment will be made as to whether there is sufficient data on a committed crime of a general nature to initiate pre-trial proceedings.

The public will be informed of the results.

Shortly before that, "Shalom" also announced that they had filed a report against "Vazrazhdane".

The reason is that the publication is a manifestation of anti-Semitism and hate speech directed against the Jewish community in the Republic of Bulgaria. Due to the high degree of public danger of such statements and their incompatibility with the principles of tolerance, equality, pluralism and protection of ethnic and religious minorities established in a democratic and legal state, the language of hate is criminalized by the Penal Code, the report says.

Shalom explained that the "Vazrazhdane" post was a photo collage depicting a group of people in military uniforms resembling those of German soldiers from the National Socialist period forcibly taking another person away.

"The face they are holding is Solomon Passy - a well-known Bulgarian politician, scientist and public figure of Jewish origin, former member of parliament and minister of foreign affairs. On top of the photo collage is an inscription with the text 'If you don't want the Russian gas, come and will give you ours'. Neither the author of the photo collage, nor the identity of the person who shared it in the group of the 'Vazrazhdane' on Telegram, are known to us", write representatives of "Shalom".

Taken together, the photo collage and accompanying text constitute a clear display of anti-Semitism and hate speech directed directly at the Jewish ethnic and religious minority, the organization said.

The collage on a social network, for which "Shalom" filed a report with the prosecutor's office against the "Vazrazhdane" party, is not on the official channel of the party. This was said by the leader of the political force Kostadin Kostadinov to journalists on the sidelines of the parliament.

According to him, the collage is a comment on a post in a group that, in his words, has nothing to do with "Vazrazhdane". "There were two lies: firstly - it is not the official channel of 'Vazrazhdane' and secondly - it is in a group, and the publication and the comment are on this person A.P."

"It's as if someone with the initials A.P. enters, for example, the Shalom page, writes some anti-Semitic comment and this will be attributed to Shalom? That's why I'm telling you that it's a smear campaign and we're going to make it so that now we will release a right of reply. And by the way, we are thinking about whether we should not also file a report with the prosecutor's office against 'Shalom' for propagating racial and political hatred," the leader of "Vazrazhdane" also said.

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