Bulgarian newspaper found guilty of spreading Russian homophobic hate speech

An article from the Russian media Katyusha that was published in September 2019 and promoted homophobic hate speech was republished by one of Bulgaria’s newspapers, Trud (Labour), which has led to the conviction of the portal by the Supreme Court.

The article explains a deteriorating public climate towards non-heterosexual people in the US under the administration of President Donald Trump. At the same time, the publication describes how gay people are increasingly participating in political and public life, which has been described as a “contagion” in the United States.

“Since 2018, Bulgaria has been subjected to a systematic propaganda campaign against the rights of LGBTI people and against the rights of women,” commented Radoslav Stoyanov from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

The Russian media gives a negative example that gay people occupy teaching positions in the academic community and are translated without substantial editorial intervention by the Bulgarian press.

“The article clearly conveys the suggestion that gay people are “perverted” and therefore dangerous for children,” recalls the Bulgarian court’s decision.

The translated Russian article claims that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against Russia are the product of “perverts” working at the European Court.

The Supreme Administrative Court says in its decision that freedom of speech is not absolute and that the spread of hate speech creates a humiliating, offensive and threatening environment in Bulgarian society.

“This article is an example of the rampant campaign that presents gay people as paedophiles and the Istanbul Convention as a satanic instrument for changing everyone’s sex,” commented Radoslav Stoyanov from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

In November 2021, the Commission for Protection against Discrimination obliged the same newspaper Trud and its publisher Petyo Blaskov to introduce an internal mechanism for self-control and non-discrimination.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)