Parliament passed an amnesty for political prisoners Friday and changed the penal code so that Bulgarians can no longer be prosecuted for "anti-state activity" and "crimes against allied states."
Last month, Parliament granted amnesty to people jailed for slandering the state and the Communist Party. Before they were freed, independent rights groups in the West said there were up to 250 political prisoners in Bulgaria.The National Assembly, in a further move to strip former Communist leader Todor Zhivkov of all his public functions, formally terminated his role as commander in chief of the armed forces. He lost his presidential post after being replaced as party chief by Petar Mladenov on Nov. 10. The assembly made Mladenov commander in chief.
The moves are the latest in Bulgaria's whirlwind drive to transform itself from a hard-line Communist state to one at the forefront of the pro-democracy reform movement sweeping Eastern Europe.
When the legislature opened its session Thursday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated outside the building to demand that the party's leading role, as provided for in the constitution, be abolished.
Before it closed its session Friday afternoon, parliament adopted its agenda for January, which will include debate on a new law providing for free elections and a law on redistribution of land.
-YUGOSLAVIA - The Communist Party will give up its monopoly on power and allow independent parties to compete in free elections next year, according to a draft declaration published Friday. It also called for a new constitution that guarantees market-oriented economic reforms, respect for human rights and an independent judiciary.
Some opponents of change have maintained that independent parties would be formed along ethnic lines and further exacerbate ethnic tensions in the nation. But the declaration, prepared for adoption at next month's national party congress and published by the Borba daily, indicates that Yugoslavia wants to join the wave of democratic reforms sweeping Eastern Europe.
-CZECHOSLOVAKIA - Opposition leader-playwright Vaclav Havel has gained more support for the presidency, with 40,000 supporters cheering him in the streets and the nation's Roman Catholic primate - Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek - joining his chorus of backers.
Opposition spokesman Lubos Dobrovsky said Thursday night that negotiations with Communist leaders on selecting a new president would resume soon but did not say when. He said negotiators were exhausted after intense discussions and decided to take Thursday night off.
About 40,000 people poured into Wenceslas Square in Prague on Thursday to show their support for Havel.
-EAST GERMANY, reaching out to the West to solve its economic problems, has made its first contact with the International Monetary Fund to begin the painful process of modernizing its moribund economy.
Late Thursday, the official news agency ADN said that East German envoy Peter Dietze met with Helen B. Junz, the IMF's special representative for trade matters. ADN called Thursday's session in Geneva the first contacts between the two sides, adding, "The contacts are expected to be continued."
West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in an interview published Friday, said that "closer ties between the two German states contribute to stability in Europe."