Police raided a financial house (sic.) in the Roma neighbourhood of Fakulteta in Sofia, where a list of names and amounts was found besides six thousand Euros in cash. The police is suspecting election bribery and arrested several persons among which Kiril Kirilov, a know murky figure often called the Japanese.
The Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation H.E. Pierre Hagmann visited the office of the Amalipe Center and two of the institutions with which the Center works in close partnership – Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski” – the village of Kamen and the Municipality of Strazhitsa, to get acquainted with the organization’s activities. The conversations were about the Roma community and the challenges facing it, education, the contribution of the Swiss-Bulgarian Development Program, the role of NGOs and the support of the Swiss Embassy and the Ambassadorial Group on Roma Issues. The subsequent visit to the village of Kamen and the town of Strazhitsa continued and detailed these conversations.
In the period 2023 – 2025, the Municipality of Lukovit implemented the project “Future for Children in the Municipality of Lukovit”, funded by the Human Resources Development Program 2021 -2027. As a result of the implementation of the projects, conclusions are drawn about the growing marginalization of certain places and neighbourhoods and the deepening challenges in terms of poverty and inequalities, including the lack of access to health, social, communal and other services for Roma groups. In the villages of Belentsi and Petrevene – a large percentage of Roma families with children, at risk of poverty, not speaking Bulgarian and for this reason – difficulties in the social and educational integration of children in kindergarten and school. In the village of Bezhanovo – a large number of families with eight to 10 children, in extreme poverty and at risk of marginalization. In the town of Lukovit – a compact Roma population in the “Iztok” district – according to expert observations, over five thousand people”, the report says.
Poverty and early marriages are among the main reasons why children from vulnerable groups (read minorities here, and of course especially Roma)do not attend school regularly, experts said at the opening of the project to retain students in the education system, held at the capital’s 51st Secondary School “Elisaveta Bagryana” under the slogan “Let’s bring their future back”.
A TV series is being currently made in Bulgaria about Ruja Ignatova, the so-called crypto queen who managed to swindle 4 bio USD and vanished.
The article says that according to some sources, she was born on May 30, 1980, in Ruse. According to other sources, her family, which is of Roma origin, is from the villages of Pleven.
The body of a newborn was found in a landfill in Sliven, Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the landfill is in a Roma neighbourhood.
The police confirmed that they are working on the case. The District Prosecutor’s Office in Sliven reported to bTV that a pre-trial investigation for intentional murder has been initiated and an investigation is underway. At the moment, the state prosecution cannot say whether there are traces of violence on the child’s body. However, according to witnesses, he had visible injuries. They say that they saw the body of the newborn being thrown out of a car.
Two Roma families Baltovi and Chorovi, around 40 people, attacked 10 people from the Machevi family in Rozino. The aggressors threw stones and trees, as well as other objects, at the Machevi homes, and beat up some of the Machevis. No one knows why they are fighting, but the scandals have been going on for years. According to our information, there are arrests and injuries. The police in Plovdiv told Novinar that there were no serious injuries and one person was provided with medical assistance.
A fire broke up on an illegal dump in a Roma neighbourhood in Varna.
Another of those stories of a fight between Roma families in Bulgaria. This time in Karnobat.
Six seriously injured young men were brought to the emergency department of the Burgas University Hospital after a mass fight between two Roma families in Karnobat. The six have serious injuries from blows with hard objects, some have superficial lacerations, probably from knives. Two of the injured are in critical condition.
An article on “educational” cases against minors filed with the prosecutor in Slivengrad, Bulgaria in 2025. 29 children, all boys were invoilved in the cases. What is positive is that the number of cases involving Roma has significantly decreased from 2024.
The Bulgarian association “Amalipe” launched a campaing as part of St. Valentimn’s day called “First Diploma in Hand, Then Love”.
The organisers say: “On this day, young people feel excitement and trepidation. Love is beautiful, but for many girls in Bulgaria it comes too early and often limits their freedom. Instead of having time to dream, study and build their future, they find themselves under the pressure of premature expectations – to be wives and mothers before they are ready.”
The Bulgarian artist Rada Tsankova, who has lived and worked in Paris for 30 years, arrives in Bulgaria to open two retrospective exhibitions – today, February 17 in Sofia at the new space “Monument” and on February 23 at the “Papillon” gallery in Varna.
As part of her tour of her natve country, she will hold several workshops. One of them with Roma on February 20th. The artist will hold a creative workshop with the Music Instead of the Street Association, which helps children of Roma origin or in difficult financial situations to have access to classical music. The association was founded by the world-famous Sliven violinist of Roma origin Georgi Kalaidzhiev. The focus of Tsankova and the children’s joint work is “How to Present Music Through Visual Art”.
An incident between groups of Roma in the Pleven village of Bykovlak occurred on Friday evening. The situation was captured on video.A police team was sent to the scene, but at the moment no one has been detained in connection with the beating, which took place in front of other residents of the village. Some of the witnesses filmed the incident with their phones.
Seven young Roma from Kotel and the villages in the municipality have been selected to train as mediators between the community and institutions. Four girls and three boys aged 16 to 24 will explain to people their rights will direct them to whom to turn in a specific case, explained Maria Hristova, chairwoman of the Association “Local Active Group – Kotel” under whose project the young Roma have been selected and will be trained.
“We have also planned mobile days, which we call “compass days” and will be field work, so young people will be able to meet people, work on real cases and guide, help and cooperate. They will act as mediators between the institutions and the community. If a person from a given settlement in the Kotel municipality does not know where to go to submit documents for social assistance, for example, or wants to learn more about a certain type of service, these young people will assist. They will also accompany elderly people to the institutions,” said Maria Hristova.
Tensions between two groups of Roma in the Pleven village of Bukovlak seem to be boiling over, requiring police action. Witnesses claim that groups of Roma gathered in different places in the village, some of them holding sticks, stakes, shovels, axes and other hard objects.
Bad.
A singer with artificial intelligence was created in Romania. She is called Lolita and already has thousands of fans and millions of views on social networks, local media reported in their reports on the subject.
The creator of Lolita is a young man from Bacău, who calls himself Tom. He is a visual designer by profession with over ten years of experience in editing photos and videos.
“Lolita sings in Romanian. She is a project that connects the old with the new. A specific violin sound, traditional music performed by Roma orchestras, is mixed with modern instrumental accents. Several styles are intertwined,” explains Tom, who writes the lyrics of the songs.
Following a police action (and literally dozens of articles), the “Roma Baron” Hristo Varbanov, known for his nickname Itso the Pope, was detained. He was detained in Kostinbrod during an operation by the “Cobra” unit of the Sofia Directorate of Internal Affairs for property fraud, and for an old affaire of kidnapping.
A whole series of articles (we only list two here) about the siege of a property by a special squad of the Bulgarian police. The home of alleged Roma baron Hristo Varbanov, known by his nickname Itso the Pope, in Kostinbrod is under police siege.
Always bad when the Bulgarian press reports a brawl among Roma. This time in the Sdofia Roma neighbourhood of Fakulteta were a melee between several Roma occurred in front of a local store. According to eyewitnesses, the cause of the conflict was a runaway bride, which led to tension and physical altercations between the groups.
Roma in the Balkan celebrate their New Year as the Bango Vasil or Vasilitsa, effectively the old orthodox New Year, regardles of their religion.
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