The main objective of the visit was to examine whether any progress has been made by the Bulgarian authorities since the 2017 periodic visit of the CPT as regards the implementation of its recommendations concerning the treatment, conditions and legal safeguards offered to psychiatric patients and residents of social care institutions.
In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Zornitsa Roussinova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy and Jeny Nacheva, Deputy Minister of Health, as well as with senior officials of these two Ministries.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Bulgarian authorities.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Mykola Gnatovskyy, President of the CPT (Head of delegation)
- Elsa Bára Traustadóttir.
They were supported by Dalia Žukauskienė of the CPT’s Secretariat, and assisted by an expert, Clive Meux, forensic psychiatrist, Oxford, United Kingdom.
The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:
Establishments under the Ministry of Health
- St Ivan Rilski State Psychiatric Hospital
- Byala State Psychiatric Hospital
- Tsarev Brod State Psychiatric Hospital
Establishments under the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
- Home for persons with learning disabilities in Kudelin
- Home for persons with learning disabilities in Samuil
- Home for persons with psychiatric disorders in Govezhda
