SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) ? A court in eastern Bulgaria has sentenced a young man for propagating racial hatred against Roma people through a social network.
Slav Zhechev received a 10-month suspended sentence with a three-year probation period for stirring ethnic violence and racial hatred by organizing a Facebook event entitled “Roma Slaughter,” the Varna District Court ruled on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Zhechev was convicted of using his Facebook profile on Sept. 28 to urge people to arm themselves and join the anti-Roma event.
Last month, Bulgaria was gripped by violent protests stirred by the murder of a Bulgarian teenager by Roma men. Police prevented several attempts by angry Bulgarians to storm Roma districts.