There are serious human rights violations in Bulgaria, the report of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee for 2001 reads. The violations, connected with the over use of force and weapons on behalf of the authorities are among the serious ones noted in the report ( at least ten people have died in suspicious circumstances; these circumstances show that these people might have died after tortures or illegal use of weapons by the police). The report concludes that the conditions in the state institutions where mental patients stay were inhuman and humiliating. One of the gravest violations according to the report is the fact that the authorities interfered in the control of the national electronic media, quoting the case of the Bulgarian National Radio when the state interfered in the appointment of director and strikes of journalists followed. The report notes that like previous years the human rights of the people from the ethnic minorities were seriously violated. Krassimir Kunchev, director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, commented that human rights violations in Bulgaria have neither decreased nor increased.