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Mayor beats Roma for picking sunflowers!

By Liz Fekete

1 March 1997

The mayor from the village of Galiche has been accused of violently assaulting a Romani man on 24 August.

In a statement to Sofia's Human Rights Project, Mr Oleg Krassimirov Khristov alleges that in the presence of a guard and a local policeman the mayor accused him of stealing corn and then beat him on the head and body with a one-metre long iron pipe. The mayor was apparently acting upon information from a local guard who had seen Mr Khristov picking several sunflowers in a field. As a result of the beating, Mr Khristov sustained lacerations on his right hand, two broken ribs and haemorrhaging on his left thigh and on the left half of the face.

On 16 September, Mr Khristov was again summoned to the mayor's office, only to be told that if he filed a complaint about the incident he would be turned over to the mafia. After this second meeting, the local policeman adviced Khristov to leave the village temporarily for his own safety.

Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Centre, Autumn 1996

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