Konstantina Kouneva ( el, Κωνσταντίνα Κούνεβα, born 28 September 1964), also known as Kostadinka Kuneva ( bg, Костадинка Кунева), is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n immigrant in Greece,

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist and secretary of the Greek Trade Union of Cleaners and Housekeepers. She was elected as an MEP in the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Attack and reactions

Kouneva was working as a

cleaner A cleaner or a cleaning operative is a type of industrial or domestic worker who cleans homes or commercial premises for payment. Cleaning operatives may specialise in cleaning particular things or places, such as window cleaners. Cleaning oper ...

for the IKOMET company (providing services to ISAP, among other clients, through

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

). On the night of 23 December 2008, and while on her way home from work (Kouneva had repeatedly requested a shift in the morning hours, but was always denied), she was attacked by unknown assailants with

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

(vitriol), leaving her face horribly disfigured, and resulting in the loss of sight in one of her eyes. Kouneva was also reportedly forced to swallow a portion of the acid, something which completely destroyed her esophagus and heavily damaged other internal organs. This event sparked

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

s and clashes with the

Greek police The Hellenic Police ( el, Ελληνική Αστυνομία, ''Ellinikí Astynomía'', abbreviated ) is the national police service and one of the three security forces of the Hellenic Republic. It is a large agency with responsibilities rang ...

during the

2008 civil unrest in Greece The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Γρηγορόπουλος), a 15-year-old Greek student, was killed by a special officer in Exarcheia district of central Athens. The kill ...

. The protests, which included

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

s reading "Konstandinka, you're not alone", continued at least until 22 January 2009 and numbered 3,000 people, with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

being used by the MAT police forces. The attack was described as the most severe assault on a trade unionist in Greece in 50 years.

Education

Kouneva graduated from the St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo with a degree in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Politics

She was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

as a candidate of the left-wing

SYRIZA The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

party in the

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

held on 25 May 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kouneva, Konstantina 1964 births Living people Acid attack victims Bulgarian expatriates in Greece Greek trade unionists MEPs for Greece 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Greece Syriza MEPs Janitors People from Silistra Syndicalists Violence against women in Europe