Information on the "Church of the Word of Life", whether it is legally operating in Bulgaria, the current treatment of its members by the authorities and the population in general, and the recourses available to them [BGR28727.E]

According to an information package on the Church of the Word of Life in Bulgaria sent to the Research Directorate by a Brussels-based organization called Human Rights Without Frontiers, the Word of Life Biblical Foundation was registered as a non-profit organization by the Sofia City Court. However, in September 1993 the City Court decision was declared inadmissible by the City Prosecutor's office and on 1 March 1994, the Supreme Court of Bulgaria cancelled the registration.

According to Country Reports 1997,

The government requirement that groups whose activities have a religious element register with the Council of Ministers remained an obstacle to the activity of some religious groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Word of Life, the Unification Church, and Baha'is, which have been denied registration (1998).

Country Reports 1997 also states that in April and May 1997, the police "broke up Word of Life religious gatherings, and in May customs officials at Sofia Airport confiscated videotapes belonging to the same religious group."

Additional information on the current treatment of members of the Church of the Word of Life by the Bulgarian authorities and the population in general, and on recourses available to them could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References


Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997. 1998. United States Department of State. Washington, DC : Government Printing Office. [Internet], http://www.state.gov.[Accessed : 5 February 1998. 1996]

Human Rights Without Frontiers, Brussels. Information package sent on 9 February 1998 to the Research Directorate.

Additional Sources Consulted


Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

Online searches for news articles (NEXIS).

Three oral sources could not provide the requested information within the established deadline.

A letter sent to the Research Directorate on 9 January 1998 by a representative of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee in Sofia states:

There have been no changes recently in the legislation with respect to desertion from the army. Last amendments have been as of 1982 and 1986. All the relevant provisions are laid down in the Penal Code, Sections 380-392. These provisions describe different crimes, that can be committed by military personnel. One of the Sub-Chapters is entitled "Defection from Military Service" and describes different circumstances of desertion, providing for different punishments. These are different number of years imprisonment, ranging up to 8 years imprisonment. A career army officer risks between one and eight years imprisonment if he has fled from the army to another country.

For a copy of articles 380-388 of the Bulgarian penal code, please consult Response to Information Request BGR8154 of 19 March 1991.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Reference


Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Sofia. 9 January 1998. Letter sent to the Research Directorate by a representative.