site.btaNew Study Highlights Gaps in Civil and Criminal Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence

A new study has highlighted the gaps in civil and criminal protection for the victims of domestic violence in Bulgaria. It also showed that domestic violence in Bulgaria is predominantly gender-based and targets women. The analysis looked into the practices and challenges in combating violence against women and domestic violence in Bulgaria, and was prepared as part of the project titled "Advocacy for the Implementation of International Standards on Combating Gender-Based and Domestic Violence in Bulgarian Legislation".

It was presented Monday at a roundtable by Genoveva Tisheva, Chair of the Alliance for Protection Against Gender-Based Violence, Radoslav Stoyanov, Co-Chair of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, and Krasimir Kanev, Director of the Monitoring and Research Program at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

The project is implemented in partnership between the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and the Alliance for Protection Against Gender-Based Violence (APGV) during 2025–2026. It is funded by the Bulgarian Fund for Women.

According to the main conclusions of the analysis, the legal framework for both civil and criminal protection against violence toward women and domestic violence in Bulgaria is too narrow. Civil protection against domestic violence contains a serious shortcoming: it cannot be applied in cases of domestic violence between same-sex partners, even when they have lived together for a long time. It is also inapplicable to people living in the same household who do not have a family or intimate relationship with each other.

Criminal law protection against violence toward women and domestic violence does not cover discriminatory violence against women, the analysis further states. According to civil case practice, protection is most often sought against physical and emotional abuse, including control and coercion - forced limitation of personal life, freedom, and rights.

Courts issue emergency protection orders within the legal timeframe, valid until a formal protection order is issued or until changes in circumstances require the measure to be revoked. They do not always adequately recognize the different forms of violence, including verbal abuse as part of psychological violence, as well as economic abuse, the analysis notes.

The analysis also emphasizes the high exposure of children in Bulgaria to domestic violence, the seriousness of the violence against children, and the severe forms of violence to which children are direct witnesses: physical, emotional, verbal abuse, most often by fathers against their mothers.

The analysis includes 22 recommendations, noted Radoslav Stoyanov of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. Among them are:

• The state should clearly recognize that domestic violence, based on reported forms in administrative statistics and judicial practice, is a form of violence against women and take protective measures aligned with its characteristics;
• Empower Interior Ministry authorities to impose protective measures, including removing the perpetrator from the family home at the first contact with the case;
• Immediate confiscation of the perpetrator’s weapons in cases of domestic violence;
• Introduce aggravated criminal offences in the Penal Code for crimes committed with discriminatory motives based on gender and other grounds;

Krasimir Kanev of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee noted that criminal protection against gender-based violence is the primary type of protection, while civil protection is secondary, as its specific purpose is to sever the connection between the perpetrator and the victim to enable criminal protection.

The research was conducted from March to June 2025 using desk research and analysis of information from acts issued under the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act (ZVDN) by district courts across the country for the period 2024 to April 2025. The analysis covers the application of the law after significant amendments in August 2023, many of which came into force at the beginning of 2024. Over 250 district court decisions were analyzed. The results and conclusions relate to first-instance court decisions and ZVDN orders and reflect trends in the initial stage of the most necessary protection for victims of domestic violence.