SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
66 rue Laugier - 75017 Paris
Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
e-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

SWC QUESTIONS BULGARIA'S AWARD TO ANTI-GYPSY JOURNALIST

In a letter to Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, protested "the choice of recipient for the 2008 'Chernorizetz Hrabar' (Young Journalist) Bulgarian State Journalism of the Year Award."

Samuels noted that "the laureate, Kalin Rumenev, is reported to have written racist articles on a regular basis, attacking the Roma Gypsy community; in the national newspaper NOVINAR, Rumenev is quoted to have written:

'The Gypsies are coming like wolves, they are multiplying like sheep. The first to leave will be international companies. There won't be anyone to sell their new shit to, and they'll move away to somewhere with less Gypsies and more money. Who's going to buy soap for soft and tender white skin?

Dirty Gyppos?' 'The difference between Gypsies and cattle is that cattle are subject to veterinary control. Livestock can't behave like Gypsies, but the reverse is allowed. Bovine rights and freedoms have been under serious pressure to (sic!) years, and during that time the Gypsy woman has given birth to twins again and she's as bloody-minded as a cow yet again.'"

The letter stressed that "this language is so redolent of the 1930s - 1940s, when both Jews and Gypsies were marked for Nazi extermination," adding that "we recall the courage of Bulgaria, at that time, in saving its Jewish community. Anti-Gypsyism can have no place in today's Bulgaria.

This incitement to racism, hate and violence violates Bulgarian commitments under the anti-discrimination provisions of the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe."

Samuels continued, "The official ceremony bestowing this prestigious prize, attended by leading government officials, parliamentarians and journalists, has endorsed the teaching of contempt."

The Centre called upon the President "to investigate the circumstances of this Award, to publicly condemn the above statements attributed to Rumenev, and that, if substantiated, the prize be promptly withdrawn."

"Your silence on this matter would create the perception of State endorsement and co-responsibility for any violent consequences of such Gypsy-baiting. We count on your sensitivity and resolution," concluded Samuels.

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.