Dokument #1213789
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Attached please find the covering
memorandum which was missing from your copy of "Human Rights
Violations in BulgariaReports from the Independent Information
Agency Apia". As you can see, the information came to the IRBDC
through the offices of Radio Free Europe in Munich where it was
translated from Bulgarian. Apia is an independent information
agency in Sofia.
Much of the information which the IRBDC
consults for questions involving Eastern Europe is derived from
Radio Free Europe sources which have proven to be reliable.
20 June 1990
Bulgaria: 1) Is an exit visa and foreign
currency needed in order to leave Bulgaria?2) Were persons who were
considered politically unreliable drafted into Army Labour Units
(also called Black Units) whose activities were classified
secret?If so, once they had served their time were they forbidden
to leave Bulgaria for at least 10 years after their service had
ended?3) Are there any restrictions on married couples in so far as
travel outside Bulgaria is concerned?4) What is the penalty upon
return to Bulgaria for a crew member who deserts his ship in
Canada, makes an unsuccessful refugee claim, and is later returned
to Bulgaria?
From:
Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation
Centre, Ottawa
Keywords:
Bulgaria / national law / visas / armed
forces / military service / transport / travel / civil and
political rights / freedom of movement / repatriation /
returnees
1) 4) According to the Bulgarian Justice
Minister, Svetla Daskalova:
'defection' is no longer a crime. Failure to return within the
appointed time will be considered an administrative offence.
...[Offenders] will not be treated as political emigrants and can
return to Bulgaria without fear of persecution by the state. [
Svetla Daskalova, Democracy and Humanism: The Groundwork of
Change in Legislation (Sofia: Sofia Press, 1989), p. 8.
(Attached)]
Until March 1990, exit visas were required
for trips to nonsocialist states. [ Telephone conversation with
official, Bulgarian Embassy in Ottawa, 20 June 1990.] Under new
legislation, exit visas are no longer required for travel outside
of Bulgaria. Persons leaving Bulgaria are not required by the
Bulgarian government to possess foreign currency although the
country to which they are travelling may. [ Ibid.]
Passports can be denied under Article 7
to:
minors and those placed under interdiction, unless their parents,
custodians or guardians have agreed in writing; ...persons facing
trial or sentence and those not having served their term; persons
paying alimonies without securing them for the period of their stay
abroad ... persons whose travel abroad threatens state security...
persons with serious debts established through the court and do not
guarantee [sic] payment; persons who have been punished for
systematic violation of Bulgarian customs and currency legislation
a year after serving the sentence...persons punished for violating
customs control on narcotic drugs a year after serving the
punishment. [Daskalova, p. 6.]
The government issued an amnesty on charges
against those who left the country illegally since 9 September 1944
(non-returners) and decriminalized the offences contained in
Articles 280 and 281 of the Criminal Code. [ Kjell Engelbrekt,
"Liberalization of Legislation on Citizenship and Passports", Radio
Free Europe Research, 29 June 1989, p. 7.] According to the
official at the Bulgarian Embassy, persons returning to Bulgaria
face no penalty for having left even if they made a refugee claim
while abroad.
The IRBDC cannot corroborate this
information at the present time and does not know whether the
amendments are being fully enforced in practice.
2) The IRBDC has no information currently
available on whether persons considered politically unreliable were
drafted into "Black Units". An on-line search failed to find any
mention of Army Labour Units or Black Units.
3) According to an official at the
Bulgarian Embassy in Ottawa, there are no restrictions on married
couples with regard to travel outside Bulgaria. [ Conversation, 20
June 1990.] The IRBDC cannot corroborate this information at the
present time.