Thursday, July 22, 2004
BULGARIA CLOSES "HUNDREDS" OF "LIVING CHURCHES" IN MASSIVE POLICE RAID
Human rights group and opposition condemn operation, as protests spread
By: Stefan J. Bos
ASSIST News Service
SOFIA,
BULGARIA (ANS) -- The
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), a human rights watchdog, condemned
Bulgaria’s government Thursday, July 22, after police allegedly closed down
250 churches nationwide and detained several priests in the largest crackdown on
clergy since the collapse of Communism. (Pictured:
Part of Bulgaria raid).Officials disputed the numbers and said Bulgarian police evicted dissident Orthodox priests from dozens of churches across the country, which they occupied in defiance of a 2001 law that handed their property to the traditional church. "Some 25 churches have been closed," interior ministry spokeswoman Sonya Momchilova was quoted as saying to the Reuters news agency.
She reportedly added that more could follow in the future. The priests broke from the mainstream church after the fall of Communism in 1989, saying the patriarch had been too close to the former authoritarian regime.
At least one priest was injured in the police operation, said the BHC in a statement seen by ASSIST News Service (ANS). “The raids were carried out in Sofia, Plovdiv, Smoljan, Bansko, Chepelare, and other places across the country with a prosecutor's warrant,” the BHC claimed.
FORCEFULLY EVICTED
“During the raid, which started in the early hours of July 21, the Alternative Synod headed by Father Inokentii was forcefully evicted from the Orthodox churches it occupied. Police stormed through 250 churches across the country. The churches were sealed, and the clergy serving in them - driven out,” the BHC said.
“We are a living church that is being persecuted, like in Roman times," Father Inokentii, was quoted as saying by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
Buses with clergy and parishioners were expected to arrive in the Bulgarian capital Sofia Thursday, July 22, as part of protests against what the prosecutor's office decision and the alleged violent actions by police forces.
PRIESTS DETAINED
Three priests were detained and taken for questioning to the Fifth District Police Station after the police raid in Sofia's St. Paraskeva Church. The church is said to be the headquarters of the alternative Synod. One of the detained, Father Kamen Barakov, urged for the resignation of Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Nikola Filchev and Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov.
“A priest from Father Inokentii's Alternative Synod sustained medium bodily injury after the police raid in the Sveto Uspenie Bogorodichno Church [Assumption Church]. Father Hristo Pisarov has at least one broken tooth, a broken nose and other bruises after 50 policemen raided the church,” the BHC said.
“The priests had not let them in the church voluntarily. Father Pisarov has been detained for 24 hours in the Sixth District Police Station in Sofia for obstruction of the activities of the police.”
OPPOSITION ANGRY
Opposition Parliamentarians have reportedly called for a stop of what they see as “the political interference in religious affairs” and insisted on amendments to the Denominations Act, the law that awarded properties to the traditional church.
The law has come under severe criticism by the BHC for “using administrative means to overcome the schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, by favoring one of the rivaling wings” of the denomination, lead by Patriarch Maxim.
These latest religious tension come at a difficult time for Bulgaria, which is seeking to join the European Union in 2007.Respect for religious and minority rights are key conditions to join the Union. Roughly 80 percent of Bulgaria’s over seven million people are said to be Orthodox. The Balkan nation had a close relationship with the Soviet Union and was nicknamed "Small Russia" during the Communist era.
