Agence France Presse — English
May 4, 2005 Wednesday 3:49 PM GMT

Foreign prisoners on hunger strike in Bulgaria

SOFIA May 4

Twenty-one foreign inmates in Sofia’s central prison have embarked on
a hunger strike to obtain the same rights as Bulgarian prisoners,
prison authorities said on Wednesday.

The prisoners, who have been on hunger strike since last Thursday,
include four Turks, four Albanians, three Macedonians, two Romanians,
two Serbians, an Armenian, a Russian, a Nigerian, a Moldovan, and a
Ukrainian.

They are under “constant medical observation and measures will be
taken in case their health condition worsens,” the authorities said
in a statement.

Most of the hunger strikers are demanding early release, while some
want to be allowed to serve out the rest of their sentences in their
home countries.

Prisoners in Bulgarian jails can qualify for early release in cases
of good conduct if they have already served at least half of their
sentences. They can also reduce their terms by working while in jail.

But foreigners “are rarely given the opportunity to work,” human
rights expert Slavka Kukova of the Helsinki Committee told AFP.

“We have also received a number of complaints about the conditions at
the Sofia prison that are far from European standards,” she added.

The foreign inmates also complain that prison authorities rarely
allow them to go on home leave as a reward for good conduct.