Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev met with representatives of American Jewish organisations in Washington

Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev met with members of the leadership of four of the leading Jewish organizations in the United States. The Washington meeting was attended by Rabbi Andrew Baker - Director of International Affairs at the American Jewish Committee, Mark Levin, Executive Vice Chairman &CEO of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, Lesley Weiss - Deputy Director of NCSEJ, Rabbi Eric Fusfield, Director of Legislative Affairs at B’nai B’rith International, the oldest Jewish community organization, and Jacqulyn Subar, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Anti-Defamation League.

Ivan Geshev briefed the representatives of the Jewish community on the commitment of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office to curb and prevent anti-democratic and anti-Semitic acts in the country.

"The national interest of my country, which saved the Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War, is to prevent events like Lukovmarch," Geshev emphasized.

He drew attention to the fact that after the intervention of Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office the holding of anti-democratic procession in the capital during the last three years was not allowed in the ways in which it happened in previous periods.

Ivan Geshev informed the representatives of American Jewish organizations about the international conference against hate speech "STOP HATE SPEECH" held in Sofia in December 2022, organized by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Jewish Association. The conference laid the foundations for a broad international platform to unite state institutions, non-governmental organizations and civil society against manifestations of anti-Semitism and hate speech based on religious, gender or racial discrimination.

Prosecutor General pointed out that the Prosecutor's Office is actively interacting with human rights organizations in Bulgaria and their initiatives to update the legislative framework have been supported in order to ensure better protection of all public groups.

During the meeting, Ivan Geshev paid special attention to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews. Prosecutor General announced that an international scientific conference is planned to be held in Sofia, dedicated to the role of the Bulgarian Righteous and jurists in their noble cause of saving Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust.

The representatives of authoritative Jewish organizations were also informed about the project of the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria and the Chamber of Investigators in Bulgaria for building a monument to Bulgarian jurists who, with their actions, helped to save the lives of thousands of our compatriots of Jewish origin.