Bulgarian court upholds discrimination ruling against Kostadin Kostadinov

Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a decision regarding a discrimination case brought by former Foreign Minister Solomon Passy against Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the Vazrazhdane party.

The case originated from a finding by the Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPD), which concluded that Kostadinov and his party engaged in harassment and incitement to discrimination against Passy based on ethnic grounds. The CPD noted that specific Facebook and YouTube publications provoked a “wave of inflammatory speech against Jews” and fostered “openly antisemitic attitudes,” creating a hostile environment.

Both parties appealed the initial CPD decision, which did not impose fines. Passy contested the fact that not all points of his complaint were proven, specifically regarding a Telegram group named ‘Vazrazhdane’ for which administrators could not be identified. Law enforcement officials informed the court that Telegram typically refuses to provide user data except in extreme cases involving terrorism. Ultimately, two judicial instances confirmed the Commission's ruling, noting that the CPD lacks the authority to investigate high-risk public offenses, which fall under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office.