site.btaParliament to Debate at First Reading Amendments to Criminal Procedure Code

The National Assembly is expected on Wednesday to debate at first reading three bills amending and supplementing the Criminal Procedure Code, according to Parliament’s draft agenda.

The amendments were approved by the ad hoc legal affairs committee earlier in May. Two of the bills were submitted by the caretaker cabinet of Andrey Gurov, and the third by Yordan Ivanov of Democratic Bulgaria and a group of MPs.

The first bill submitted by the caretaker government provides for the introduction of mandatory judicial review of the validity and legality of rulings to terminate or suspend criminal proceedings for corruption offences committed by persons holding public office. The amendments are related to the implementation of commitments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. 

The proposed changes aim to introduce effective institutional oversight of the actions of the ad hoc prosecutor investigating the prosecutor general or his deputies, as such oversight has so far been practically absent. Under separate amendments to the Judicial System Act, the oversight would be exercised by a judge from the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Cassation, acting as supervising prosecutor, who would be selected at random from a list approved by the General Assembly of the Criminal Chamber. The list should include judges of the highest rank and with experience in criminal justice. The supervising prosecutor will be designated upon the opening of the proceedings, thus preventing any period during which the actions of the investigating prosecutor would remain without supervision.

The second bill submitted by the caretaker cabinet contains amendments aimed at the full and correct transposition and implementation of EU directives on procedural rights.

The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code submitted by Yordan Ivanov propose the introduction of fast and effective judicial review of 72-hour detention ordered by a prosecutor.