Bulgarian Court Orders Mental Health Check for EU Flag Offender

Crime | October 26, 2012, Friday // 19:32
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Court Orders Mental Health Check for EU Flag Offender The Supreme Court of Cassation building in Sofia has become the scene of a crime against the EU flag that is technically not criminalized in Bulgarian law. File photo

The Sofia Regional Court has ordered a mental health check for a Bulgarian female who cut the flag of the European Union at the Supreme Court of Cassation building.

29-year-old Mariya Georgieva has been charged with hooliganism for damaging the EU flag; her mental health will be tested in a psychiatric clinic in the eastern city of Sliven, BNR reported citing the court.

Georgieva has told the court that she cut the EU flag into pieces as a way of protesting against the EU's prevalence in everyday life and the economic crisis.

"The EU flag is everywhere – even on cars. At some point, the Bulgarian flag will disappear completely. It seems that way," Georgieva said explaining her actions where she got arrested a day earlier.

"My initial idea was to file a complaint, some sort of a complaint. I wanted to enter [the court building] and get information on where and what, and whom I can tell that... Anyway, things didn't work out the way I thought, and eventually I made this decision in order to turn attention to the fact that we must not be destroying our own flag. That is precisely why I removed the other flag, in order to make ours the central one. I am a patriot, I love Bulgaria. I don't want the Bulgarian language and people to disappear. That's what's happening," Georgieva told the court on Friday.

The actions of the woman, who is unemployed, have created somewhat of a puzzle since she was technically supposed to be indicted for offending the flag but the Bulgarian legislation has such a provision only for crimes against the Bulgarian flag, without any mention of the EU flag.

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Tags: EU, European Union, EU flag, Mariya Georgieva, hooliganism

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