Roma Woman Wins Case against Bulgaria at Strasbourg

Bulgaria has been found guilty of failing to protect the right to life and of discrimination against a female Roma citizen, who filed a case at the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights.

The European Court of Human Rights has determined that Bulgarian authorities failed to properly investigate a violent assault against the woman that left her disabled.

Back in 1999, Yolanda Yotova was shot in the chest by attackers who have yet not been identified, much less put to trial.

At the same time, the European Court has found that Bulgarian authorities possessed information about simmering ethnic tensions in Yotova's village of Aglen near Lukovit in northwestern Bulgaria.

Although preliminary investigations started right away after the attack, investigators stopped proceedings multiple times and performed a number of actions with unmotivated delay, said the court.

In addition the Human Rights Court has found that there are grounds to believe that the crime has been performed on racial grounds, something that investigators failed to properly consider, in spite of the fact they were aware of recent Bulgarian-Roma clashes in the area.

Bulgaria is to pay Yotova indemnities worth EUR 12,000, as well as to cover expenses for the proceedings at Strasbourg.