Bulgaria

Case Summary CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v Komisia

In December 2008, Ms Nikolova, who is not Roma, lodged an application with the Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia (Commission for Protection against Discrimination; the KZD) arguing that the reason for installing elctricty meters at height in the Gizdova mahala district was that most of the inhabitants of the district were of Roma origin and accordingly, she was suffering direct discrimination on the basis of nationality. 
 
On 6 April 2010, the KZD found that the installation of electricity meters at height amounted to prohibited indirect indiscrimination

CJEU Ruling Indicates Discrimination by Bulgarian Electricity Company

London, 31 July 2015

On 16 July 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling in a case of alleged discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, referred to it by a Bulgarian court. In a welcome decision, the Court provided important guidance on the application of Directive 2000/43/EC (the Race Equality Directive) to a determination of whether an electricity company’s placing of electricity meters in majority-Roma districts at a height where users could not read them was discrimination. In so doing, the Court made comments which indicate its support for a finding that the practice constitutes direct discrimination.

Paraskeva Todorova vs. Bulgaria (Application no. 37193/07)

On 25 March 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in the case of Paraskeva Todorova vs. Bulgaria (Application no. 37193/07), ruled that Bulgarian courts had discriminated against a Romani woman, by imposing an effective prison sentence and and motivating their decision to grant the supended prision sentence which was recommended by the prosecution in a way related to her ethnic origin, treating her less favourably on the basis of her Romani ethnicity.

Bulgarian Courts Discriminate Against Roma

On 25 March 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in the case of Paraskeva Todorova  vs.  Bulgaria (Application no. 37193/07), ruled that the Bulgarian courts had discriminated against a Romani woman, in deciding to impose a custodial rather than the suspended sentence recommended by the prosecution.  The ECtHR found that in so doing, the Bulgarian courts had motivated their decision on the basis of her ethnic origin.

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