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Comment by lurch_mojoff | Hacker News Reader

But we are not talking about the Cold war era Soviet block. Bulgaria is an EU member and I'd like to believe that in the EU sane people cannot be thrown in the loony bin for political reasons.

Based on this and his barely coherent ramblings in the published email of his, I'd say he does indeed have some sort of mental problem.

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I'm not sure if you know, but Bulgaria is in Balkans. And sane people are thrown in the loony bin (or just killed) if they talk too much.

Bulgaria is considered the most corrupt country in the 27-member European Union. For example, just recently, Asen Drumev, former head of the State Agricultural Fund, was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling $34 million worth of EU assistance (and as far I know he was just a sacrifice lamb). And crime journalist Bobbie Tsankov was killed "execution syle" last June.

Of course, Bulgaria pledged to work harder at "combating high-level corruption and organised crime" in response to renewed criticism from the European Commission (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/01d19cdc-942a-11df-a3fe-00144feab4...).

"I'm not sure if you know, but Bulgaria is in Balkans". Mexico is in North America. What is your point?

BTW, Mr. Bobbie Tsankov was a convicted conman that loved to brag about how well connected he is with the underground and this is a fact. He just happend to have a radio talk (not news) show. Saying that he was a "crime journalist" is like saying that Lucky Luciano was running a security company.

I'm bulgarian, living in US since 1999. I've been couple of times back, trying to keep on the news... and the recent scandal involving our premier just saddens me.

The transition from "kind-of communist/socialist (actually totalitarian)" regime to full blown democracy, reminds me a bit of situation where you would put electrical engineer with no software practice to be software engineer.

In results, we have a buggy country, with lots of hacks, "fixes", and it leaks everywhere, but you can't debug it well.

Real example - the money for Sofia -> Burgas freeway (~400km long) disappeared, only 1/3 (1/4?) got finished.... Not the only case where money had went south in my dear old country.

So I'm here, waiting for Bulgaria 2.0 to happen, and would go back once the people are ready for change.

Keep believing that.

If he truly has a mental problem, then let him move to a mental hospital in a country of his choosing.

I'm sorry, but you misunderstand healthcare in EU memberstates, it's not like you can just move around from one country to another to get healthcare at the level you want it, the default is that citizens go to clinics in their respective member states unless a particular expertise is not available or you happen to be visiting a memberstate when you get ill.

When you're a resident for instance or holidaying you get some choice in the matter because of your location but if I were to get ill tomorrow I could not 'move to a hospital in a country of my choosing' and the same goes for mental hospitals.

In most EU countries people can be placed in a psychiatric facility against their will if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Paranoid schizophrenics are probably the most well known group who are likely to end up involuntarily committed, but there are plenty of others.

Once you have been committed against your will, you have to convince either a psychiatrist or a medical tribunal that you are no longer a public health risk. You are not free to just move to another facility or country.

Not saying that's what happened in this case, but the wording of the OP title, and from reading the translated article, it seems quite possible.

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