site.btaECHR: Bulgarian Authorities Failed to Effectively Investigate Racist Assault

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that the Bulgarian authorities failed to effectively investigate a racist assault, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) reported on Tuesday. The Court delivered its judgment in the case of British national Leon Koffi, who was beaten by a group of football fans in Sofia back in 2018. The case was litigated by lawyers Adela Kachaunova and Iveta Savova from the BHC’s Legal Programme.

The case Koffi v. Bulgaria (No. 95/24) concerns an attack on September 29, 2018 against Leon François d’Assisiz Koffi, a Black British citizen, who was assaulted by a group of football supporters following the CSKA–Levski match. The attack took place on Gen. Parensov Street, in front of the Interior Ministry building. The victim sustained serious injuries, including a fractured jaw and knocked-out teeth, which required prolonged hospital treatment and several surgical interventions.

Pre-trial proceedings were opened, but for years the perpetrators were not identified and the investigation was discontinued several times. On two occasions, the national courts overturned decisions to suspend the investigation, pointing to specific omissions by the investigators and issuing concrete instructions on how to remedy them.

The ECHR held that, as conducted, the investigation had no realistic prospect of establishing the facts and identifying those responsible. Among the key shortcomings highlighted by the Court were the failure to take immediate steps at the scene to secure and preserve evidence, unexplained delays in questioning witnesses and collecting important materials, and the incomplete implementation of the national courts’ instructions when the investigation was resumed. The Court stressed that a lack of action at the very outset of an investigation may cause irreparable damage to its chances of achieving tangible results.

In addition, the ECHR found that the authorities had made no focused effort to examine and expose a possible racist motive behind the attack on Leon Koffi. Although the victim and other witnesses clearly stated that the attackers had revealed their motives by making mocking “monkey” sounds and other insults, the investigation contained no specific steps to address this aspect, and the legal classification focused on hooliganism without any genuine inquiry into racist motivation. The Court therefore found a violation of the prohibition of discrimination in conjunction with the ineffective investigation.