A woman with dual American-Bulgarian citizenship was arrested and later released for protesting outside the Russian Cultural and Information Centre in Sofia, where she wrote “murderers” in chalk on the building and burned a Russian flag.
Euractiv reports on this, as “European Truth” writes.
Alexandra Mileva, also an artist, recently returned from Ukraine, where she was shooting a film about the Russian invasion. She was arrested in the Bulgarian capital on 29 August, according to the public organization BOEC (Boyets), which filmed Mileva’s detention.
“Aleksandra was illegally abducted and held against her will only because she openly expressed her civic position against the atrocities of the Russian occupiers and in support of Ukraine. The police must learn that this is not Moscow and that it serves the citizens and the law,” stated the position of the public association BOEC after the arrest.
Witnesses of the incident from the BOEC organization claim that after the Russian flag was set on fire, Bulgarian policemen arrived and pushed, insulted and threatened the protester. Then they handcuffed her and took her to the police station.
Polina Velcheva, Mileva’s lawyer, told Euractiv Bulgaria that the young woman was held in police custody for 24 hours. Then the prosecutor’s office demanded that she be punished for hooliganism with 15 days in prison or a fine of 50 – 250 euros.
The lawyer claims that the police considered the actions of Mileva, who tore up and burned the Russian flag, as indecent. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bulgaria has not yet commented on the case, although most protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are perceived in Bulgaria as the right to express political views.
The European Court of Human Rights has already ruled several times in similar cases to protect the right to peaceful protest.
On Friday, the Sofia District Court acquitted Mileva, ruling that she was expressing her opinion and did not show disrespect to society.
On Saturday, BOEC and other citizens organized a “barbecue” with Russian flags in front of the Russian Cultural Centre in Sofia as a sign of solidarity with Alexandra Mileva. Several Russian flags were burned during the demonstration, but the police did not intervene.
Meanwhile, polls show that Bulgaria’s approval rating for Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, has dropped significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Українська правда
