During its Human Rights meeting from 6 to 8 December, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers examined the S.Z. and Kolevi group of cases against Bulgaria which concerns mainly the systemic problem of ineffective criminal investigations, as well as the lack of independence of criminal investigations concerning the Chief Prosecutor. The Committee welcomed the elaboration in November 2022 of a draft bill, proposing an important, long-awaited criminal procedural law reform and safeguards for the independence of investigations concerning a Chief Prosecutor or their Deputies.
The Committee welcomed several amendments, in particular the one concerning the introduction of judicial review of prosecutorial refusals to open an investigation concerning certain categories of criminal offences, and invited the authorities to proceed to their adoption.
The Committee also welcomed the proposals concerning rules on investigation against a Chief Prosecutor or their Deputies, which appeared overall to respond to the maximum extent possible, within the existing constitutional framework, to the Committee’s 2019 Interim Resolution [CM/ResDH(2019)367]. It encouraged Bulgaria to pursue these important changes, which provide inter alia for: the supervision of the investigation by a senior judge appointed as ad hoc prosecutor; rules obliging Parliament not to elect, in particular, prosecutorial magistrates as members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC); new rules on temporary suspension and dismissal of a Chief Prosecutor, inspired by the Venice Commission’s recommendations, to reduce the Chief Prosecutor’s influence on SJC.
At the same time, the Committee encouraged the authorities to consider possible improvements of the above amendments. It also called for their analysis on whether it is necessary to further improve, through a constitutional amendment, the mechanism concerning an investigation against a Chief Prosecutor or their Deputies, at a subsequent stage and after appropriate consultations, to address limitations due to constitutional constraints.
Finally, noting that Parliament still needs to elect new SJC members, the Committee strongly insisted on the need to carry out this election in a way reducing effectively the Chief Prosecutor’s influence on the new SJC.
These cases will be re-examined in March 2023.
- News item in Bulgarian (unofficial translation)
- Latest Notes and Decisions of the Committee of Ministers concerning these cases (unofficial translation into Bulgarian)
