Indicator history

The Bulgarian Ministry of Interior collects statistics of registered crimes against the rights of citizens (Articles 162-169c, 170-171, 174a of the Criminal Code). Of these racist and hate crime are incriminated in Art. 162 to 164 of the Criminal Code. The exact number of racist and hate crime cases is not available.

Source: Letter of Ministry of Interior to the Center for the Study of Democracy

The table includes official data on criminal offences registered by the police irrespective of whether pre-trial criminal proceedings have been officially instituted by the prosecution service. The articles listed in the table incriminate the following offences: propagating or abetting to racial, national or ethnic hostility or hatred or to racial discrimination through speech, print or other mass media, through electronic information systems or in any other way; using violence against another or damaging another’s property because of the victim’s nationality, race, religion, or political convictions; forming, leading or being a member of an organisation or group which has set itself the objective of committing such acts (Article 162); participating (including as abettors and leaders) in a crowd rallied to attack groups of the population, individual citizens or their property in connection with their national, ethnic or racial affiliation with heavier penalties for cases where the crowd or some of the participants were armed or where an assault had been made which had resulted in severe bodily injury or death (Article 163); propagating hatred on religious basis through speech, print or other mass media, through electronic information systems or in any other way; vandalising, destroying or damaging religious temple, house of prayer, sanctuary or a building attached to them, their symbols or tombstones (Article 164); hindering citizens, by force or threat, from freely practising their faith or from performing their religious rituals and services, which do not violate the laws of the country, the public order and morality; compelling others, in the same way, to take part in religious rituals and services (Article 165); founding a political organisation on religious basis or using, through speech, print media, action or any other way, the church or religion for propagating against state authority or its events (Article 166); crimes against political rights of citizens (Articles 167-169c); crimes against inviolability of premises and vehicles (Article 170); crimes against privacy of correspondence (Article 171); crimes against freedom of assembly (Article 174a).