Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev and the Deputy Head of District Prosecutor’s Office Pleven and Chairman of the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria Vladimir Nikolov held a meeting in New York with representatives of the largest Jewish organizations in the United States - the American Zionist Movement, the American Jewish Committee, the World Jewish Congress, B'nai B'rith International - the oldest Jewish public organization, Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The meeting was at the invitation of Herbert Block, Executive Director of the American Zionist Movement. According to the director of Herbert Block organization, is a result of the active and decisive position of Ivan Geshev and the institution headed by him for countering hate crimes, deterring manifestations of hate speech and suppressing any attempt at anti-democratic manifestations that threaten the security and freedom of expression of every Bulgarian citizen.
The state of anti-Semitism in the country, as well as the challenges facing the institutions in dealing with such manifestations was of interest to the representatives of the American Jewish community. Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev stressed that the Bulgarian people have traditionally shown empathy towards the Jewish community and compared to Western Europe "anti-Semitism is more of an occasional manifestation, not a trend."
The Head of Pleven District Prosecutor’s Office Vladimir Nikolov pointed out to the American hosts that in order to achieve better results in the prosecution of hate crimes with discriminatory motives the Bulgarian legislature should adopt necessary amendments to the Criminal Code, which would comprehensively treat this type of crimes. This will also achieve the desired result - counteraction, prevention and an increased sense of justice in the population.
Both parties discussed the developments in the "Sarafovo" case - the terrorist act of 2012, in which five Israeli and one Bulgarian citizen died. The Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev gave a positive assessment of the work of the prosecutors and investigators in connection with the investigation of the Sarafovo airport attack. Before the representatives of the Jewish organizations, Ivan Geshev pointed out that the two assassins were sentenced in absentia to "imprisonment without the right to exchange".
Vladimir Nikolov presented the initiative of the Association of Prosecutors and the Chamber of Investigators in Bulgaria to build a Memorial in memory of the lawyers who participated in the rescue of Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War, the opening of which is expected by the end of 2023. Ivan Geshev and Vladimir Nikolov invited the representatives of the Jewish organizations to attend the opening of the Memorial. The Chief Executive Officer of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff welcomed the idea and pointed out that such initiatives once again show that Bulgarian society creates a friendly atmosphere for the Jewish community and strengthens the role of the Bulgarian state as a friend and traditional ally of the Jewish diaspora.
The representatives of the largest Jewish organizations in the USA expressed their unequivocal support to the Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev on the occasion of the attack against him on 1 May this year.