Independent journalists and media fought numerous defamation lawsuits. Parliament introduced amendments prohibiting “LGBTI propaganda” in schools but rejected other amendments that would have further undermined LGBTI rights. Anti-immigrant attacks increased. A Saudi activist was at risk of deportation. Systematic failures continued to plague psychiatric care. Measures to strengthen protection for victims of domestic violence were pending.

Background

In October, Bulgarians went to the polls for the seventh time in three years. The protracted political instability left the Ombudsman role vacant since April.

An intense heatwave led to wildfires and water shortages.

Freedom of expression

Independent journalists and media reporting on organized crime and corruption faced strategic lawsuits against public participation.

In January, the Sofia City Court rejected a libel claim by an insurance company for an unprecedented BGN 1 million in damages (about EUR 500,000) against e-magazine Mediapool over a story about the Green Card system in Bulgaria. Mediapool’s editor-in-chief called the ruling, which was not final, “an important victory” for media freedom.

In April, minister of interior Kalin Stoyanov filed a defamation lawsuit against the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data over the outlet’s reporting on alleged corruption in the ministry. Media Freedom Rapid Response said the lawsuit was designed to “silence legitimate investigative reporting”.

In a landmark ruling in June, the European Court of Human Rights found that Bulgaria had violated the rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression of journalist Rosen Bossev, who was found guilty of defamation in a criminal case in 2019. The court concluded that his conviction was not made by an “impartial tribunal” and violated freedom of expression.

Freedom of association

In September the so-called Foreign Agents Bill, introduced for the fourth time by the pro-Russia party Revival, was defeated in a parliamentary committee. The bill would prohibit foreign-funded organizations from carrying out activities in educational institutions and in some ministries.

An NGO from Stara Zagora was denied municipal funding after its founder criticized border police for ill-treating migrants.

LGBTI people’s rights

In July, the European Court of Human Rights retroactively found the case of Y.T. v Bulgaria, a trans man who was denied legal recognition of his gender identity, to be inadmissible. The court urged Bulgaria to set up a transparent and accessible framework for legal gender recognition.

In August, in an urgent procedure, parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Pre-School and School Education, which prohibited the provision of information about “non-traditional sexual orientation” and “gender identity different from biological sex” in schools. Rights organizations strongly opposed the legislation, calling it a direct assault on fundamental freedoms of the LGBTI community.¹ Teachers across Bulgaria faced threats for opposing the legislation. The leader of Revival, the party which initiated the amendments, threatened to file criminal charges against teachers who “want to push homosexual propaganda”.

In September, parliament rejected amendments to the Child Protection Act introducing criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare for minors and draconian fines for healthcare professionals providing this care.²

According to an EU Agency for Fundamental Rights survey, 72% of LGBTI people in Bulgaria reported being bullied in school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

ILGA-Europe, an LGBTI-rights NGO, ranked Bulgaria as the third lowest-performing country in the EU for the protection of LGBTI rights in 2024.

Discrimination

Roma continued to face discrimination in all walks of life. In July the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the former leader of the Bulgarian National Movement Party, Krasimir Karakachanov, engaged in discriminatory harassment due to anti-Roma statements made in 2019, which triggered widespread anti-Roma violence.

Against the backdrop of disinformation and hostile rhetoric by politicians in the lead-up to the European Parliament elections in April, there was an increase in xenophobic incidents, including physical attacks on asylum seekers and foreign nationals.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

Although the number of people travelling the so-called Balkans route towards western Europe dropped, pushbacks and violence persisted on the Bulgarian border with Turkey.

A Saudi activist, Abdulrahman al-Khalidi, who was awaiting a final decision in the asylum process in Bulgaria, was at risk of deportation to Saudi Arabia. Despite a court ordering his release, he remained in administrative detention in the Busmantsi Detention Centre near Sofia and was denied adequate medical and psycho-social support. Human rights organizations warned that if deported, he would be at risk of torture and other serious human rights violations.³

Rights of people with disabilities

In January, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) noted that patients in psychiatric institutions continued to lack adequate psycho-social care, which was “neglectful and harmful to patients”. The CPT criticized the Ministry of Health for failing to prevent and punish persistent ill-treatment of patients.

In April, rights organizations reported widespread abuses of people with disabilities, including torture and other ill-treatment, financial and verbal abuse, neglect and isolation in institutions, including small group homes.

In August, a 57-year-old patient died in a fire in a psychiatric hospital in Varna. An investigation by the Ombudsman’s Office found that the patient was immobilized at the time and left without supervision, while the hospital complex itself was severely understaffed, with only one doctor on duty.

Gender-based violence

In March, Together against Violence, a coalition of 37 rights organizations, asked the authorities to urgently implement the 2023 amendments to the Law on Domestic Violence, including improving risk assessment procedures and coordination between institutions.

The National Council for Prevention of and Protection from Domestic Violence officially started working. In September, the government adopted the Programme for the Prevention of and Protection from Domestic Violence 2024-2026, which included measures to strengthen education and prevention programmes and provide support for the victims of domestic violence.

Women’s rights organizations reported that at least 18 women died due to domestic violence in 2024.

Right to a healthy environment

Despite a previous commitment to speed up the phase-out of coal-fired plants, in April parliament postponed a vote on the Climate Neutrality Roadmap. Protests by coal and power plant workers fearing job losses slowed down Bulgaria’s green transition.

The Ministry of Environment and Water concealed from the public that the air quality monitoring system in Sofia failed to accurately report pollution levels.

Bulgaria dropped from 36th to 46th place in the Climate Change Performance Index.

1. “Bulgaria: Ban of ‘LGBTI propaganda’ in schools is attack on the entire LGBTI community”, 8 August ↩︎
2. “Bulgaria: Rejection of attempts to criminalise gender-affirming healthcare a welcome block against rising tide of hate”, 27 September ↩︎
3. “Bulgaria should not deport Saudi activist Abdulrahman al-Khalidi and should immediately release him”, 12 March ↩︎