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UK in row over Bulgrian Roma extradition request printable version

11 Oct 2012: posted by the editor - United Kingdom, Bulgaria

Bulgaria is seeking the extradition of Toma Nikolaev Mladenov, former MP candidate and editor of DeFacto news agency. See report below. District Court Judge John Zani will issue his written ruling in this case on 25 October at Westminster Magistrates Court.

"Who are you, police boy, to stop me speaking in Romani with my wife?" No violence and no bad language are alleged.

Yet this incident earned Toma Nikolaev Maldenov, described at an extradition hearing in London yesterday (9 Oct) as a prominent figure within Bulgaria's Roma minority, a sentence of one year in prison.

After seven years going through four courts and a dozen hearings, in Sofia and London, Bulgaria v. Mladenov is on the way to becoming a cause celebre. It's a case that still remains incomprehensible, until one factors in Europe's heightened anti-Roma, anti-migrant political climate.

Having avoided, as he believes, an instant beating by Bulgarian police for his impudence, matters at first went well for Mladenov. He gained a first-ever victory in a case of discrimination against the police officer, who was subsequently dismissed from his job.

But as one would expect, the police were not content to let the matter rest. Citing the same incident, which occurred on 17 September 2005, they charged Mladenov with public disorder, claiming he had insulted both the officer and the state. A Sofia court, hearing the evidence of three witnesses, dismissed the charge.

Mladenov left the country, unaware when the police appealed. He was tried again, in his absence and without legal representation, then arrested on returning from Germany. He managed on appeal to have the term reduced to six months. Now he faces extradition from the UK because Bulgarian prosecutors say he still has seven weeks to serve.

Aged 46, with four children and eight grandchildren, Mladenov has for twenty years fought to advocate, within the limits of the post-communist political and judicial system, for an improvement in the status of Bulgaria's 800,000 Roma. He was an architect of the coalition known as Kupate (Jekhipe), and subsequently saw the offices of his newspaper DeFacto trashed. He has been assaulted in the street and a bomb placed near his apartment.

Among more recent outrages, a bomb has been set off at a branch office of the Euroroma Party, fatally injuring one member. It was with the help of Euroroma that Mladenov initially, as a journalist, exposed the incident at the police station.

As Westminster Magistrates Court was reminded, reports by the EU, Amnesty and the European Roma Rights Centre all point the finger at Bulgaria for failing to tackle anti-Roma violence, especially of the neo-Nazi Attack Party but also by police. More than a score of Roma have been murdered in racially-motivated assaults and shootings.

"I've returned to my home country many times", says Mladenov. "Now it's too dangerous. Our movement has been almost crushed. I fear for my life, most of all in a Bulgarian jail.”

But unless his appeal against extradition succeeds or he's allowed to served out his term in a British prison, that is where Mladenov will end up. He would be keeping company with many political activists and other Roma already there. Nearly 25% of Bulgaria's prison population is made up of Roma.

Yesterday's hearing went badly. Much to the chagrin of his supporters inside and outside the court and despite seemingly conclusive arguments by barrister Mark Somers, who several times made reference to the Julian Assange Case.

Somers first proposed that this case is of such a trivial nature that it could not conceivably fall within the terms of the Extradition Act. It is an office which under British law would at most draw a fine, whilst the relevant legislation encompasses serious crimes warranting imprisonment by a judge or jury here. Both the original sentence and the present request are, therefore, undeniably disproportionate.

But District Court Judge John Zani indicated that he was not convinced. The second argument concerned the ancient law of double jeopardy. Mladenov has been found not guilty by a Bulgarian court. British justice would consider the matter closed as prosecutors normally have no right to seek a second trial.

"Here in England that acquittal would have been final," Somers concluded.

Nevertheless, Mladenov must wait until a further hearing scheduled for 25 October to receive a written ruling on the extradition application. If unfavourable, the case is almost certain to be appealed to the high court, in which circumstance he may submit to being held in custody.

Tags: Kupate, Toma Nikolaev Maldenov, extradition, Roma

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