The Ministry of Justice launched a working group to prepare amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code
Yesterday, a working group began to work in the Ministry of Justice, which is preparing amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that will give:
– the possibility of increased judicial control in pre-trial proceedings (e.g. on refusals to initiate pre-trial proceedings)
– the introduction of an effective mechanism for holding the Prosecutor General accountable
– additional possibilities for victims of crime to seek acceleration of criminal proceedings, etc.
The problems have been identified in a number of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. One of them is the landmark case of Kolevi v Bulgaria, where the lack of guarantees in the Bulgarian legal system for the independence of criminal investigations against the Prosecutor General was identified.
The adoption of these changes is one of the measures for the reform of the Bulgarian judiciary, also envisaged in the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan.
The working group of the MoJ includes representatives of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office, the Bar, NGOs, academia, professional organisations, the MoI and the MoJ.
Andrey Yankulov from the ACF team takes part in the group. He authored the analyses:
- EXERCISING CONTROL OVER THE PROSECUTION FUNCTION – THE NECESSARY CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
- THE ILLUSION OF THE BULGARIAN LEGISLATOR – creating a mechanism for effective investigation of the Prosecutor General