Bulgaria - July 2023

Protests against violence towards women, which are rare in the country, took place in different cities. In the capital, Sofia, approximately 5,000 protesters took to the streets. A brutal attack against an 18-year-old woman by her former partner, which took place on 26 June, made the headlines at the end of July, when it emerged that the perpetrator, 26-year-old Georgi Georgiev, was discharged on 5 July as the court classified the injuries he inflicted as “minor bodily injury,” despite the victim requiring 400 stitches for her wounds. Georgiev also had a prior criminal record and was already on probation. He remained free until 30 July when, following public pressure, authorities arrested him for death threats he had sent to the victim before the attack. The protests have shone light on the issue of gender-based violence in Bulgaria, which has not ratified the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty aimed at combating gender-based violence. A survey by the National Statistics Institute at the end of 2022 found that one third of women aged 18-29 said they had experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence from an intimate partner, while 20 per cent of those between 18 and 74 reported the same.

Sources: Darik News, Euractiv, Radio Free Europe Bulgaria (1), Radio Free Europe Bulgaria (2), National Statistics Institute of Bulgaria