E/CN.4/1990/46 page 6 25. In a communication addressed to the Albanian Government on 3 October 1988 (E/CN.4/1989/44, para. 2 8 ) , the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "It has been reported that, as of August 1988, Catholic Bishop (name provided), 70 years old, remained confined in the Tepelana labour camp near the port of Vlora. The following priests and religious believers have also been reported to remain in prison or forced labour for religious motives (13 names provided)." 26. On 30 August 1989, the Charge d'affaires of the Permanent Mission of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania transmitted the following comments on the above information from the Albanian authorities: "As to the allegations contained in your letters of 29 May 1987 and 21 July 1988 to the effect that 'religious believers are still being sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for making the sign of the cross, keeping religious symbols in their homes or vocalizing a prayer" etc., we wish to inform you that they are absolutely untrue, that they are ill-informed and ill-intentioned towards my country. "Nobody in Albania is given a sentence for purely religious reasons. If the courts have in the past sentenced some cleric9 that was simply for the crimes or terrorist acts he had committed. "With regard to the allegations contained in the annex of 3 October 1988, to the effect that ex-Bishop Nikolla Troshani and a number of ex-priests and religious believers had been imprisoned on religious grounds, we would inform you that Albanian prisons do not at present contain a single ex-clergyman sentenced for any reason whatever, and still less any religious believers allegedly sentenced for purely religious reasons." Bulgaria 27. In a communication of 8 May 1989 addressed to the Government concerned, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "It has been alleged that, in spite of the signing, on 23 February 1988, of a protocol on the development of bilateral relations by the Foreign Ministers of Bulgaria and Turkey, repressive measures continue to be taken against members of the Muslim community, including pressure and coercion to change Islamic names into Bulgarian ones; denial of the right freely to practise religion and religious rituals; restrictions on the use of mosques; and denial of the right to a religious education." 28. In a communication of 26 June 1989, the Special Rapporteur expressed his concern at the fact that: "... Hundreds and even thousands of Muslim Bulgarians have left the country allegedly as a consequence of the above-mentioned repressive measures or are being forced to leave the country, at very short notice."