site.btaPenal Code Amendments Related to Victims of Sexual Offences Adopted Conclusively

On Wednesday, Parliament adopted on second reading amendments to the Penal Code aimed at guaranteeing that victims of sexual offences will benefit from their rights of defence within a sufficiently long period after reaching the age of majority. The texts transpose European directive requirements. The amendments tabled by the Council of Ministers were adopted with 101 votes in favour, 8 against, while 42 MPs abstained.

During a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs earlier in April, Irena Borisova, Senior Expert on International Legal Cooperation at the Justice Ministry, said that the European Commission (EC) has opened an infringement procedure against Bulgaria. Borisova quoted an EC opinion which explicitly stated that the youngest victims have no opportunity to defend themselves from any crime in the Penal Code. She stressed that, according to the EC, Bulgaria has not ensured prosecution within a sufficient period for many of the offences listed in the directive.

The amendments to the Penal Code also state that fornication of a minor will be punishable by imprisonment from two to ten years when the offence is committed by use of force, threat, rendering the victim helpless, taking advantage of the victim's helpless state, by using a position of dependence or supervision or with respect to a person who is engaged in prostitution. Parliament wrote that whoever copulates with a person who is deprived of the possibility of self-defence without his consent, by forcing or threatening him or by rendering him helpless, shall be punished by imprisonment for two to eight years.