The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday (September 5) condemned Bulgaria for refusing to recognize the union abroad of a lesbian couple. The move was hailed by activists in the European Union country regularly accused by Brussels and Washington of violating the rights of the LGBT community.
The Court, which monitors compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, had been seized by two Bulgarian nationals who married in 2016 in the United Kingdom, where they lived since seven years.
Darina Koilova and Lilly Babulkova, both 37, now live in Sofia. They denounced the refusal of the Bulgarian authorities to include the mention “married” in the civil status registers and explained that they could not benefit from the legal protection which they considered to be due to them.
The judges of the ECHR, who sit in Strasbourg, agreed with them and condemned Bulgaria for violating the rights guaranteeing respect for private and family life, enshrined in the Convention (Article 8).
“A step towards justice for our community in Bulgaria”
The Court decided unanimously that its judgment finding this violation constituted in itself sufficient compensation for the non-pecuniary damage suffered by the applicants. She asks Bulgaria to pay them 3,000 euros for their legal costs.
“This is a step towards justice for us and our community in Bulgaria,” reacted the two complainants, now hoping for a change in legislation to ratify recognition of homosexual couples.
“It was only a matter of time”, welcomed their lawyer, Me Denitsa Lyubenova, welcoming this first conviction pronounced by the ECHR against the Balkan country on this subject. “We now expect action from the government,” she added, although little progress is expected immediately as the proportion of people accepting equal rights for LGBT people has fallen by twelve points since then. 2015. This evolution of mentalities is amplified by the political instrumentalization of these subjects by the power in place.
Contacted by Agence France-Presse, the Bulgarian justice ministry was not immediately able to comment on the decision.
The judgments of the ECHR, which are binding on the States concerned, can lead governments to modify their legislation and their administrative practice. Bulgaria, a former communist country, does not allow marriage or civil union between people of the same sex, as does neighboring Romania, condemned in May by the ECHR which had been seized by 21 homosexual couples. It ranks 26th among European countries for respecting the rights of LGBT people, according to the annual barometer of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).
