« Sugar Factory »: So in Bulgaria they delete Roma
Who determines this rule in which mayors of districts, as well as residents of these areas, stand with the conviction of the carriers of some irrefutable morality to declare « We do not want these people! », « We are a small municipality and we all know each other », « We know how to protest and we will do it again »? This was stated by the mayors of the Kremikovtsi district, in the Lyulin region, in the Krasna Polyana district.
The buildings in Sugar Factory have been demolished despite a ban on Strasbourg court
Neighbors with « those »
And we – the viewers who are comfortably accommodated in the protected neighborhoods of « European » Sofia, listen to the words of the « right people invited by the reporter », who honestly, but really sincerely, are outraged by the hypothesis to be neighbors with « those ». How many people will protest this inhuman attitude of people against people?
In this scenario, in which the police had gone with a water weapon (just in case), we are all complicit. Because the storyline has been running since 2016.
| In 2016, the Sofia Municipality issued an order for the removal of illegally constructed buildings on municipal land. It’s been nine years since. Time enough to find an acceptable option for residents to offer a suitable solution, tailored to life, family stereotypes and the opportunities for social entry of people in the area. |
District mayor doubted the Strasbourg court had been manipulated for the ban on Sugar Factory
How in 9 years no one sought a solution
For nine years, the municipal authorities did not take care of either the environment in the neighborhood or the people living there. Moreover, in 2020, then mayor Yordanka Fandakova deleted the administrative address of the Mahala, and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works deleted more than 700 Roma address registrations. No one had the opportunity to react because an order was not served on people.
Thus, the authorities allowed the residents of the neighborhood to be left without address registration. Many of them as a result – without personal documents. Thus, people are pressed to pay for fictitious address registration. That’s why the number of Roma reported with an address in the Mahala is now much lower. In fact, they are already at a business address – another big topic that implies a separate comment.
District and municipal mayors and municipal councils have the power to provide greater capacity of the reserve housing stock, as well as more municipal housing with acceptable rent for the needy. However, by law, reserve housing cannot be sold (Article 48 of the Municipal Property Act). The procedure for the filing of municipal housing for rent is like a storyline for Kafka, explains lawyers who know the matter.
The Helsinki Committee: 200 people from Sugar Factory have been disturbing homeless for the third day
An unequal match with a predetermined output
The forced expatriates of Roma communities are part of the shady side of Bulgarian being. What is currently happening at the Sugar Factory, however, is not just another round in an uneven match with a predetermined end, but an unprecedented violation of a court order in Strasbourg.
| The destruction of the buildings began despite the temporary measures issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to refrain from demolishing the dwellings to a second order. |
Mayor of Ilinden District Emil Branchevski, who was notified of the provision on Friday, neglected the legal norm and complicated in the extinguishing of international law in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior.
« In the evening – under the open sky »
Here is what a lawyer Diana Dragieva from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee commented on Deutsche Welle, which is part of the affected families.
« The evening of April 11, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled the temporary protection of three, four-year-olds, and seven-year-old children, sick children, adults in a helpless state and disabilities, until the circumstances of the case and their ability to receive at least a temporary home elsewhere are clarified.
| I sent the decision to the mayors of the Ilinden region and to the Sofia Municipality as early as April 13 – Sunday morning (the day before the announced date of the demolition). I have explicitly directed the mayors to the competent authority – the Ministry of Justice for more instructions. |
I did not receive a response to my letter. Two days later, at 5 in the morning and in the presence of a gendarmerie with a water cannon, the bulldozers equalized the homes of the families before the eyes of the children, along with their personal belongings. People showed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of Police, citing its content on 112, but to no avail. In the evening he greeted them in the open sky. «
The picture of people who collect their pieces of life in Bochchi and carts reminds the refugee caravans of war years. A picture of which politicians turn their eyes disgusting.
