During its Human Rights meeting from 8 to 10 June, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers examined the S.Z. and Kolevi group of cases against Bulgaria which concern mainly the systemic problem of ineffective criminal investigations, as well as the lack of independence of criminal investigations concerning the Chief Prosecutor.
As concerns the effectiveness of investigations in general, the Committee welcomed the authorities’ commitment to introduce judicial review of refusals to open investigations and reiterated its call to adopt the necessary legislative amendments without delay. It further invited the authorities to provide, in due time, information on the outcome of their deliberations on other concrete measures to improve the effectiveness of investigations in general attaching particular attention to cases of rape or sexual abuse of children.
As concerns the investigations of a Chief Prosecutor and his or her deputies, the Committee noted that the recent proposals of April 2022 appear aimed at responding, to the maximum extent possible within the existing constitutional framework, to Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2019)367 and the Committee’s subsequent decisions and that they outline several positive solutions, such as the supervision of the investigation by a judge reappointed as ad hoc prosecutor, the reduction of the Chief Prosecutor’s influence in the Supreme Judicial Council and the involvement of investigators, who are not subordinate to the Chief Prosecutor.
The Committee invited the authorities to provide in due time information on the concrete provisions developed to introduce the mechanism, outlined in the April 2022 proposals, to allow their thorough assessment. It also invited the authorities to provide their analysis on whether it is necessary to further improve through a constitutional amendment the above mechanism, at a subsequent stage and after appropriate consultations, to address limitations due to constitutional constraints.
Finally, the Committee exhorted again the authorities urgently to adopt legislative or other appropriate measures to ensure that the Chief Prosecutor’s influence in the new Supreme Judicial Council, to be elected in the upcoming months of 2022, is reduced.
The Committee of Ministers decided to examine again these cases at the latest in December 2022.
News item in Bulgarian (unofficial translation)
Latest Notes and Decisions of the Committee of Ministers concerning this case (unofficial translation into Bulgarian)
